Again?! Bill 47, Making Ontario Open for Business Act

Last week the Ford government tabled Bill 47,  Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018. This legislation would repeal many of the amendments made by the Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, most of which came into force in January 2018 but some of which are slated for January 2019.

Not surprisingly the changes proposed by Bill 47 are employer-friendly, in direct response to the employee-friendly changes brought in by Bill 148. The current versions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) is still in force and it is important that employers continue to comply with the Bill 148 version of the ESA until the new revisions are passed.

Here are some highlights of the proposed changes. Check out Bill 47 or the Ontario government’s new release for more details.

Read More

The Ontario Government and Changes to Bill 148 and Cannabis Law

Legislatively speaking, a lot has happened in the Ontario workplace law space over the past year. The biggest shake-ups being the Bill 148 changes to the Employment Standards Act and today’s legalization of recreational cannabis. The state of workplace law continues to evolve as the Doug Ford government takes steps to undo the Liberal legislation.

Bill 148 on the Chopping Block

You can read all about Bill 148 on our blog here. Bill 148 ushered in lots of changes, probably the most significant being the increase in the Ontario minimum wage from $11.60 to $14.00. The general minimum wage was set to increase again to $15.00 on January 1, 2019, but the Ford government has announced that this increase will be indefinitely postponed and further that the Bill 148 changes will be “scrapped.” No legislation has been tabled to undo Bill 148 just yet, but it is no doubt coming. We will keep you posted.

Read More

Salaried workers, overtime and hours of work

In our connected age, work often creeps beyond the set hours of the workday. See my last post about legislating the right to disconnect for more on this. We often get questions from employers and employees about whether salaried workers should be getting paid for these extra hours and what exactly counts as “overtime.” Let’s dive in.

Maximum Hours of Work

Under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) most employees can legally work a maximum of 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week. It is possible for an employer to require that the employee work more than this, but in this case an agreement must be made in writing and the employee must be provided with this information sheet about hours of work and overtime pay first. Other jurisdictions have similar rules.

Read More

Public Holidays and Retail Business

Summer is almost over. I’m looking forward to kids going back to school and enjoying our last public holiday of the season. On the topic of public holidays; I’ve blogged about Labour Day in the past and we have followed along with the various changes (and reversals of those changes) made by Bill 148 to the Ontario Employment Standards Act public holiday pay rules. You can read all about Bill 148 here and about public holiday pay specifically here.

There has also been talk from Ottawa in the past month about plans to introduce a national statutory holiday to mark the legacy of residential schools. The day will be called National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Negotiations about the date on which the holiday should be held are ongoing. June 21, which is National Indigenous Peoples Day, is reportedly too close to Canada Day and St. Jean Baptiste Day, a public holiday celebrated in Quebec. An alternative would be September 30, Orange Shirt Day.

Read More

Personal Emergency Leave for Short-Term Workers

black and white image of a medical stethoscopeToday we will address another in our series of Bill 148 client questions. Over the last two weeks, we have tackled questions related to the new vacation entitlements and entitlements of salaried workers to the Three Hour Rule. This weeks’ question addresses one of the most talked about changes in the Employment Standards Act Personal Emergency Leave. For a more in depth look at Personal Emergency Leave check out our post from January.

We designed our Bill 148 webinar series to help our employer clients get acquainted with the significant changes introduced by the Bill 148 amendments. We will also be shortly issuing an Employer’s Guide to Bill 148, an ebook which will cover these changes in depth.

Read More

The Three Hour Rule

black and white image of an analogue clock faceThis week we bring you another in our Bill 148 client questions series. Today we will tackle the three hour rule. This change comes into effect on January 1, 2019, in the category of Employment Standards Act scheduling changes.

Q: Does the three hour rule apply to salaried employees?

A: It’s easy to see how to calculate three hours of pay for an employee who is paid by the hour. This client question asks if salaried employees are entitled to the three hours of pay. They are! Our answer to this question will also address how to calculate the entitlement when a worker is paid a salary.

The three hour rule, which again does not come into force until January 1, 2019, reads:

Read More
Back To Top