Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, has passed its third and final reading with the Ontario Legislature and will very soon become law. The Bill makes significant changes to Ontario's employment and labour laws, including changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the "ESA"), the Labour Relations Act, 1995 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Most of the changes are favourable to employees and reflect the provincial government's desire to eliminate or alleviate the impacts of precarious work.

The most significant change is a general minimum wage increase from $11.60 to $14/hour by January 1, 2018 and a further increase to $15/ hour by January 1, 2019.

Other noteworthy amendments to the ESA include:

  • Equal Pay for Equal Work

    • Equal pay for employees regardless of sex or employment status (i.e. part-time, full-time, casual, temporary, seasonal) when performing substantially the same kind of work
    • There are exceptions when the difference in pay is based on a seniority system, merit system, etc.
  • Increased Paid Vacation Entitlements

    • After 5 years of service, paid vacation entitlements will now increase to 3 weeks (6% vacation pay)
  • New Calculation of Overtime Pay

    • If an employee has two different regular pay rates, overtime is now based on 1.5x the regular pay rate for the type of employment which the employee is performing during overtime
  • Family Medical Leave

    • Increased leave of up to 28 weeks
  • Personal Emergency Leave

    • Leave of up to 10 days, with a minimum of 2 days being paid leave
    • Minimum number of employees no longer a precondition to entitlement
  • Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave

    • Leave of up to 15 weeks, with the first 5 days to be paid leave
  • Pregnancy Leave

    • Increased leave of up to 12 weeks after a miscarriage or stillbirth
  • Parental Leave

    • An extra 26 weeks (6 months) of leave on top of existing entitlements
  • New Automatic Presumption that a Worker is an Employee

    • Prohibits employers from misclassifying employees as "independent contractors" and thereby denying their entitlements/protections the ESA
  • Changes to Shift Scheduling and On-Call Provisions

    • If a shift is cancelled within 48 hours of its start time, employees are entitled to receive 3 hours of pay
    • On-call employees who are not called in or are called in for less than 3 hours are entitled to receive 3 hours of pay
    • Right to refuse employer's request to work or be on call on a day they were not otherwise scheduled to work if the request is made less than 96 hours before the proposed shift

For a complete and comprehensive list and details of the changes, please see: Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017,

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