On October 23, 2018 the Ontario Ford government announced plans to repeal a number of the changes to employment legislation previously brought in by the Wynne government.

The Ford government announced plans for an act, titled the ‘Making Ontario Open for Business Act’, which would repeal a bulk of the changes brought in through Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act.

As a reminder, amongst other changes, Bill 148 amended the minimum wage and provided employees governed by the Employment Standards Act ten personal emergency days, the first two of which were paid, and mandated employers to provide equal pay for part-time/casual staff on the same basis as full-time staff.

The new Making Ontario Open for Business Act, if passed, would replace the two paid sick days with three unpaid days and eliminate the pay equity provisions for casual/part-time staff. The Making Ontario Open for Business Act would also keep the minimum wage at $14/hr, reversing the planned increase to $15/hr which was to go into effect on January 1, 2019.

The Making Ontario Open for Business Act would also repeal and/or modify other changes to the Employment Standards Act brought in through the Wynne government related to scheduling, the calculation of holiday pay, employee misclassification, and penalties for contraventions, among others.

Please contact our office to discuss how these changes will affect you and/or your business.