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Changes to Ontario’s labour laws and what it means for the average ‘worker’

Ontario’s Liberal government has received recommendations on how to make the largest reform to Ontario’s Labour Laws and the Employment Standards Act (ESA) since 2000.

Brian Greenspan, an employment lawyer at Hummingbird Lawyers LLP, said that the proposed changes will have ramifications for part-time employees, independent contractors and people in managerial roles. He went on to say that the changes will afford more protections to employees regarding termination pay, overtime worked and several other requirements.

“If they’re going to expand the scope of the ESA to apply to not just employees but to workers more generally – independent contractors, dependent contractors – I think that it favours the ‘worker.’”

“Some of the recommendations that I’ve seen tabled are certain to expand the breadth of the act, and who it applies to,” Greenspan noted. “I’ve seen them discuss the concept of a dependent contractor who currently falls outside the scope of the ESA but now, depending on what is ultimately passed, the employment standards contained within the act might now apply to a larger group of ‘workers.’”

A reform for the ESA would help encourage employers to be more conscious of their obligations to employees, and of those employee’s rights.

“I don’t want to speak so broadly in terms of what all employers might be, and might not be aware of. I think some are well aware of their respective rights and obligations under the act, but I think others are less informed and less knowledgeable.”

Greenspan continued saying that a lacking awareness of the obligations stems from not having knowledge on the ESA or not having a background in human resources.

 

Ultimately, these proposed changes are long overdue. The protections offered for part-time employees, contract workers and domestic workers will take the ESA at its current state, as an umbrella act aiming to cover every worker as if they were the same, and change it to accommodate for a shifting workforce.