Employers should expect possible changes to employment standards legislation and labour relations legislation.
The Special Advisors to the Ontario government’s Changing Workplaces Review have released their Final Report. The Final Report proposes 173 amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) and the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”).
The recommendations include additional enforcement mechanisms, increased fines for contravention of both the ESA and LRA, changes to basic employment standards (including significant changes to the leave of absence provisions in the ESA), and extending bargaining rights to certain employee groups currently exempt from the LRA.