Another Ontario employment law legislative update! On December 6, 2018 the Ford government introduced Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018 (“The Bill”). This bill, if passed, will make even more amendments to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) and, of relevance to unionized workplaces, the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”). 

Bill 66 comes hot on the heels of Bill 47, which passed on November 21, 2018. You can read about Bill 47 and the big changes it brought on our blog here or ask us for a free copy of our e-book, which will give you a more in-depth look.

So what new changes will Bill 66 bring? Let’s take a look.

Proposed Changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000

• No more requirement to post the ESA poster: Employers would no longer be required to post the ESA workplace information poster – if you don’t know what we are talking about check it out here. Under the proposed changes, employers will still have to provide their employees with the most recent copy of the poster.  
• No more Director’s Approval for Overtime Averaging Agreements: This change would do away with the requirement of obtaining the Director of Employment Standards approval to allow employers to average out the hours an employee has worked over multiple weeks for the purpose of overtime entitlement.
• No more Director’s Approval for Work Weeks exceeding 48 hours: This change would allow employees to agree to work more than 48 hours in a work week, without the requirement of approval from the Director of Employment Standards.

Proposed Changes to the Labour Relations Act, 1995

• Non-Construction Employers: The Bill would amend the LRA to deem a long list of entities as non-construction employers. This includes municipalities, local boards, school boards, hospitals, colleges, university and other public bodies. This means that, if the Bill passes, trade unions in the construction industry will no longer represent their members who are employed by these entities.  This will affect the employment relationship between the employer entities and any of their construction employees currently represented by a union.

Bill 47 passed with lightning speed, so chances are that Bill 66 will do the same. We will continue to keep you updated. As always, if you have any questions about our legal landscape and its impact on your workplace, get in touch and don’t forget to reach out for your free ebook!