The government of Ontario is proposing broad reforms to the
province's employment laws. The Fair Workplaces, Better
Jobs Act, 2017 (the Act) goes beyond a simple increase in
minimum wage and includes a number of amendments to Ontario's
Employment Standards Act,
2000 (the ESA) and Labour
Relations Act, 1995 (the LRA). The proposed
legislation is based on the 175 recommendations made in the
government mandated Mitchell and Murray's Changing Workplace
Review. If passed, most changes would be implemented at various
dates in 2018 and 2019.
Reforms to Employment Standards Act
An overview of reforms to the ESA include: increasing minimum
wage to $14 an hour by January 1, 2018, rising to $15 an hour in
2019, (currently, minimum wage is $11.40 an hour); increasing paid
vacation to three weeks after five years of service; increasing pay
for other workers who receive lower wages than full-time workers
when doing the same work and enabling employees to request a review
of
