Ontario Government Introduces Significant Changes To Temporary Layoffs And Constructive Dismissals Under The ESA, 2000

On May 29, 2020, the Ontario government filed Ontario Regulation 228/20 (the "Regulation").¹ This Regulation, made under Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000, (the "ESA") provides some clarity under the ESA regarding the legal implications of employee leaves and employer layoffs during the "COVID-19 period," which the Regulation defines as the period beginning on March 1, 2020 and ending six weeks after the end of Ontario's COVID-19 state of emergency.

The most significant change introduced by this Regulation relates to employee layoffs. The Regulation provides that, during the COVID-19 period, where an employee's hours of work or wages are temporarily reduced, or where an employee is temporarily laid off, most of the provisions of the ESA which normally apply to layoffs do not apply. This means that a layoff due to COVID-19 is not subject to the ESA limits on the length of a layoff, and does not become a termination of employment if that limit is exceeded.