On June 19, 2019, the government published two regulatory proposals which relate to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) and for which the government is inviting feedback by August 5, 2019.
Publication Name: Minimum Standards Monitor
Recent ESA Cases of Note
In a significant decision rendered on September 19, 2018, Wood v. CTS of Canada Co., the Ontario Court of Appeal considered the Form 1, which is required under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) to be posted and filed in cases of mass termination.
The First Bill 148 Cases: Overview of Key New ESA Decisions
It has now been 7 months since Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, was enacted and cases are beginning to emerge which interpret the new provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). In this Minimum Standards Monitor, we review some decisions of particular interest to employers which involve the new personal emergency leave (PEL) requirements, the equal pay for equal work provisions and the new minimum wage entitlements.
Ontario Government Reinstates Prior Public Holiday Pay Formula Effective July 1, 2018
Late on May 7, 2018, the Ontario government announced that it is reinstating the prior public holiday pay formula that pre-dated Bill 148. Ontario Regulation 375/18 was filed on the same day and the reinstatement of the prior formula comes into force on July 1, 2018. The regulation will remain in force until December 31, 2019…
It’s All in the Timing – Minimum Standards and When Employees Are Considered to be “Working”
In this edition of the Monitor, we will summarize a few recent cases on the topic of when an employee is “working” and entitled to compensation. These cases demonstrate that not all travel time is compensable, that pre-employment training time can be compensable, and that an employer can determine that a meal break must be taken in the workplace as long as it is uninterrupted.
Planning to Give Notice of Mass Termination under the ESA? What Employers Should Know
In a decision rendered on September 26, 2017, an Ontario court held that an employer violated the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) when it failed to file a Form 1 with the Ministry of Labour (MOL) on the same date that that the employer provided approximately 12 months’ working notice of termination to 77 employees. As a result, the employer was not given any credit for the working notice period that preceded the date it filed the Form 1 with the MOL – a period of over one year. Rather, common law damages will be assessed on the basis of a much smaller working notice period of less than 8 weeks. This decision signals that the failure to file a Form 1 contemporaneously with the giving of notice of mass termination may have costly implications for employers.
An Update on “Minimum Standards Only” Termination Clauses
The Ontario Superior Court has issued several decisions over the past few years which have found “minimum standards only” termination provisions in employment contracts to be unenforceable. Thus, employers are in the unexpected position of being liable for reasonable notice at common law…
When are Commissions Required to be Paid?
Carefully drafted commission plans can limit an employer’s liability for commission payments to terminated or laid-off employees. Other than a regulation that prescribes set reconciliation periods and minimum wages for commissioned automobile salespeople (see section 28 of O. Reg. 285/01), the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (Act) says very little about commissions. The Act does treat…
Can Americans Who Work for Ontario Companies in the United States Opt into Ontario’s Minimum Standards?
A recent decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board considered whether the Ministry of Labour and the Board can enforce an employment contract with an Ontario “choice of law” provision and references to the Employment Standards Act, 2000, where the work under the contract was performed mostly outside Ontario…