As rare as the use of that headline may be, we are cautiously optimistic that Premier Ford’s announcement yesterday that “Bill 148 will be scrapped” means at least some of the changes foisted on employers with the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act may be repealed in the coming months.
While Ford had already announced that the government would halt the planned increase of minimum wage – a hike to $15.00 was scheduled for January 1, 2019 – yesterday’s announcement in the Legislature has garnered significant attention from employers and critics alike.
Of course, we don’t know at this juncture what, if any, changes will actually come about – the official word from the Minister of Economic Development was that the legislation was still under review but that it was a “real concern” – and for the time being all of the provisions currently in force remain so. However, we will continue to monitor this situation and hope to remove the caveat from our headline above in the coming weeks.
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