Brace yourself, Ontario.  Today Bill 148 passed Third Reading and the Ontario Legislature passed the bill into law.  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 early as December 3, 2017 (leave of absence related provisions).  Provisions related to equal pay come into force on April 1, 2018.

As an aside, it also appears that the high heels OHSA amendment I blogged about this morning was incorporated into the final version of Bill 148 and thus also became law this afternoon.  Happy new year to those women who can no longer be forced to wear heels if they don’t wish to.

Stay tuned for details on what this all means.  For now, feel free to review our past blog posts on highlights of Bill 148 or go straight to the full text of the Bill on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario’s website.

The following acts are amended by this bill, making this an expansive and important moment in the development of Ontario’s workplace laws:

• Colleges Collective Bargaining Act
• Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act, 1993
• Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (Live-in Caregivers and Others), 2009
• Employment Standards Act, 2000
• Labour Relations Act, 1995
• Occupational Health and Safety Act
• Public Sector Dispute Resolution Act, 1997
• Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act, 1997
• School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014