Bill 148

Bill 148 – The Fair Workplaces, Betters Jobs Act, 2017 introduced sweeping changes to Ontario labour and employment legislation, significantly impacting how employers will manage their workplaces. Hicks Morley has the expertise to help you navigate these changes, whether your workplace is unionized or non-unionized.

At Hicks Morley, we can assist employers by:

  • Conducting an audit of your policies and processes to ensure compliance with the new Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) provisions, such as a review of your leaves of absence policies to reflect the updated and new leaves
  • Advising on implementation of various ESA changes, such as:
    • the change to the personal emergency leave entitlements and, if unionized, whether the collective agreement provides a greater right or benefit
    • equal pay for equal work
    • the enhanced vacation pay entitlement
    • the incoming scheduling provisions including on-call pay (January 1, 2019)
  • Advising on the new Labour Relations Act provisions, including:
    • the requirement to provide employee lists to a union where so ordered by the Ontario Labour Relations Board in a case where no trade union is certified for a bargaining unit and no collective agreement is in place
    • the expanded just cause protection
    • the new card-based certification process in certain industries
    • the new provisions relating to bargaining unit structure review, first collective agreement mediation and first collective agreement mediation-arbitration
    • the new provisions regarding successor rights in certain industries
  • Providing representation where required to deal with challenges to an employer’s implementation or interpretation of the Bill 148 changes
  • Providing onsite training for Human Resources professionals and other staff members, who are impacted by the changes

The Hicks Morley Advantage

As recognized leaders in the areas of employer and labour law, we are well-positioned to assist employers in complying with the Bill 148 provisions and, where necessary, in responding to challenges to an employer’s implementation of Bill 148.

We have expertise in both in reviewing policies to ensure compliance with the new changes and in advising on the application of the new provisions to specific circumstances.

At Hicks Morley, we closely monitor legislative and case law developments and keep our clients informed of their evolving legal obligations through our newsletters and educational programs, such as our in-house Advantage sessions. Our lawyers will also provide training on-site where requested.