cover feature
When Bill 148 comes into effect, HR professionals
need to be ready for sweeping changes to Ontario’s
labour and employment laws, right away. In fact,
many of the measures in the Fair Workplaces, Better
Jobs Act, 2017 need to be implemented by January 1, 2018.
Changes have been officially in the works since last May. Premier
Kathleen Wynne announced the impending minimum wage in-creases
shortly after the release of the Changing Workplaces
Review, which outlined 173 recommendations aimed at strength-ening
collective bargaining, workplace safety and wage fairness for
non full-time employees. On June 1, the Premier then entered Bill
148 into legislature. It’s expected to move to Royal Assent this fall
and quickly become law.
The headline-grabbing news has been the change to the mini-mum
wage (up to $14 per hour as of January 2018, and $15 as of
January 2019). Bill 148, though, has a lengthy list of amendments
that will impact rates of pay for different categories of workers
(full-time, part-time, etc.), scheduling, vacation pay, emergency
leave entitlements, collective bargaining rights and more.
“Based on my experience with our clients who don’t rely on
minimum wage labour, there was a misconception at first that the
Bill was all about minimum wage, because that’s what was captur-ing
all the headlines,” said Laura Williams, founder and principal
of Williams HR Law and Williams HR Consulting. “When you
“SMALL BUSINESSES WILL
FEEL THESE CHANGES
MORE THAN OTHERS, AND
WHEN YOU CONSIDER
THAT SMALL BUSINESS IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR TWO-THIRDS
OF THE PRIVATE
SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN
ONTARIO, THAT’S A PRETTY
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.”
– LAURA WILLIAMS
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