On March 6, 2018, Ontario Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn introduced Bill 203 the Pay Transparency Act, 2018. It has passed first reading and is in the process of making its way through the legislative process. While the Bill is not law yet, it would introduce several measures aimed at further closing the wage gap
Bill 148
Bill 148 Client Questions: The Three Hour Rule
This 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 …
Bill 148 Client Questions: Vacation Entitlements
Bill 148 has brought significant amendments to the Ontario Employment Standards Act. Over the past couple of months SpringLaw presented a series of Bill 148 webinars to our clients. We designed this series to help our employer clients get acquainted with all the changes introduced by the Bill 148 amendments.
We covered the following topics:…
Personal Emergency Leave
Amongst the many changes to the Employment Standards Act introduced by Bill 148 is the expansion of Personal Emergency Leave. Previously only available to employees in workplaces with 50 or more employees, this 10 day leave is now available to everyone. The first two days of leave are paid. Effectively this amounts to two days …
Sweeping Changes: Bill 148 Now Law in Ontario
Brace yourself, Ontario. Today Bill 148 passed Third Reading and the Ontario Legislature will pass the bill into law on November 27, 2017 when it receives Royal Assent. Most of the changes will come into force on January 1, 2018, while a small handful of the amended ESA sections may possibly come into force as…
Parental Obligations in the Workplace
For many of us who are parents, September feels like the real New Year. Workplace issues can arise with respect to shifting childcare obligations, as kids transition from summer schedules to school schedules. Employers may be met with requests to accommodate worker childcare obligations …
Bill 148 Fair Workplaces Changes: Unionized Workplaces
Over the last several weeks I’ve laid out some of the changes that will affect workplaces governed by the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). In this post I’ll touch on how Bill 148 proposes to change the legislation that governs the business of unions, the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (LRA). Like the proposed changes to …
Bill 148 Fair Workplaces Changes: Scheduling, Leaves and Vacation
This is the third post in my series about the proposed Bill 148 legislative changes. In this post I discuss changes related to scheduling, leaves and vacations.
Under the proposed changes employees will have the right to increased workplace flexibility and increased leave entitlements. Let’s take a …
Bill 148 Fair Workplaces Changes: Wages
Last week I posted about Bill 148. In this post I will discuss some specifics of the proposed changes related to pay. The Bill proposes several changes that will affect how much employees get paid.
Minimum Wage
Perhaps the most wide sweeping change will be the …
Introduction and Economic Viability of Bill 148
I posted in May about upcoming reforms to Ontario’s workplace laws and you’ve likely heard other rumblings in the employment and HR world about Bill 148, known as the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017. Early in June the first reading of the …