Bill 148 – The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act

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Bill 148 – The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act and What You Really Need To Know

Below you will find some important information on the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act (Bill 148) which came into effect and will affect, all Ontario employers beginning January 1, 2018.

The changes made in this Act are sweeping and cover a broad range of areas. Although some changes will likely be of little consequence other than adding even more paperwork to your daily routine, others will significantly increase employee entitlements and can be expected to add to an employer’s labour costs. A few points from Bill 148 that will affect all Ontario companies:

1. Minimum Wage:

The most publicized increase was to the minimum hourly wage which increased from $11.60 per hour to $14.00 per hour, a rise of over 20%, effective January 1, 2018.
There is also to be an additional increase to $15.00 per hour that will be effective January 1, 2019. Therefore you must ensure all of your employees are paid at least this amount.
Considerations – You may have longer term employees that were far above the minimum wage in December 2017 but now may only be a few percentage points above it. If you use temporary staffing services to compliment your current workforce, it will also affect the rates you will pay for those services.

2. Vacation:

Employees with five years of service or more are now entitled to at least three weeks of vacation time for each vacation entitlement year that ends on or after December 31, 2017.
The rate of vacation pay will be at a rate of 6 percent per year. The previous legislation provided two weeks of vacation time regardless of how much tenure an employee had. For employees with fewer than five years of service, the amount of vacation time remains at two weeks and the vacation pay rate will remain at 4 percent per year.

3. Personal Emergency Leave:

All employers are now required to provide 10 personal emergency leave days to employees.
Previous legislation reserved these days for companies with 50 or more employees.
A big part of this change is that the first two personal emergency leave days must be paid. Previously, employers had no obligation to pay employees for these days. The leave itself can relate to a personal illness, injury or medical emergency or a listed family member’s death, illness, injury or medical emergency or an “urgent matter” that concerns a family member.
Employers are permitted to require an employee who takes leave under this section to provide “evidence reasonable in the circumstances” that the employee is entitled to the leave. However, the amendments now prohibit employers from requiring a doctor’s note as evidence.

4. Public Holiday Pay:

The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act (Bill 148) changes how employers calculate public holiday pay. This will have the effect of increasing public holiday pay for some workers.
The way you are now to calculate public holiday pay is by taking the regular wages earned in the pay period immediately preceding the public holiday and dividing that by the number of days the employee worked in that period.
If the employee was on leave or vacation during that pay period, you must now base our calculations on the pay period preceding the vacation or leave.

There are many other changes and additions within this Act that may affect your business. Some are relatively simple and some much more complex and costly. There may be an upfront cost, but now, in the early days, is the time to ensure compliance and limit exposure. Questions you have may be answered by visiting the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s website at www.labour.gov.on.ca. View the entire Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act (Bill 148) here https://www.ontario.ca/page/plan-fair-workplaces-and-better-jobs-bill-148