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
Employment Standards
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 aboutLabour Day in the past and we have followed along with the various changes (and reversals of those changes) made by Bill 148 to …
Everything you ever wanted to know about Bill 148 but were too afraid to ask
Over the past year we have spent a lot of time thinking, writing, presenting and advising on Bill 148. As Toronto employment lawyers the Ontario employment laws are our bread and butter. Bill 148 overhauled many aspects of the laws we work with every day. This post provides an overview of some of the …
Equal Pay for Equal Work Now in Force
On April 1, 2018 Equal Pay for Equal Work, the new section 42 of the Employment Standards Act (ESA) came into force. This was a Bill 148 amendment. You can read more about the big changes Bill 148 has made to the Ontario employment landscape in our previous posts on this topic.
Equal Pay for …
Bill 203: Introducing Pay Transparency
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 …
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 …
Reservist Leave Under the ESA

With Remembrance Day just around the corner, this is a brief blog post on the often overlooked “Reservist Leave” provision under the Employment Standards Act (“ESA”).
The Canadian Forces has approximately 21,000 reservist members and these part-time military positions allow those who hold them to work regular jobs and live as civilians. There …
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 …
Labour Day

The first Monday of September is Labour Day (Labor Day to our friends in the States). In Canada, this is a provincial statutory holiday, celebrated in all of our Provinces and Territories. Most businesses will be closed, with the exception of business that fall …
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 …