Precarious and part-time workers will see benefits in the new Ontario rules, for example all employers may soon be required to pay employees for sick days. It’s just one of the changes coming to the workplace in Ontario.

Precarious and part-time workers will see benefits in the new Ontario rules, for example all employers may soon be required to pay employees for sick days. It’s just one of the changes coming to the workplace in Ontario.
Photo Credit: Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

Ontario updates labour laws, $15 minimum wage

In a little kept secret, Ontario’s Premier, Kathleen Wynne today announced several changes to Ontario’s labour laws which includes an increase in the minimum hourly wage.

The current minimum wage in Canada’s most populous province is $11.40 an hour, but will rise to $14/hr on Jan 1, 2018, and then $15/hr one year later.

Elsewhere in Canada, the minimum wage hovers around 11 dollars per hour, however the western province of Alberta announced last year it will increase it’s hourly minimum to $15 but that will only take effect in October 2018.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has announced a plan to increase the provincial minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2019
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has announced a plan to increase the provincial minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2019 © via CBC

The announcement came after a government commissioned report “Changing Worplaces” was released last week with some 173 recommendations . The report looked at how work is becoming more precarious, and how technology, fewer manufacturing jobs,  fewer union certified jobs, and other factors is making millions of Ontario workers in more vulnerable situations.

“ We recommend increasing vacation entitlement to 3 weeks per year after 5 years of employment with the same employer as Ontario is not currently on par with other Canadian jurisdictions.  (Changing Workplaces Review)

Interestingly one thing the report did not mention was an increase in minimum wage rates.

In announcing the changes, Premier Wynne said, “It has always been a challenge to raise a family on a minimum-wage job, but in recent years, it has become almost impossible, and the reality is more and more people are having to do it”.

The report notes for example, “There has been a shift from manufacturing to service jobs many of which are low wage. Technological advances and the transformation to the knowledge economy mean that the type of workforce that is needed now is very different from the past”.

Interestingly, one thing the report did not mention was increasing the minimum wage.

Other changes to the province’s labour laws announced today include:

  • -Equal pay would be mandated for part-time workers doing the same job as a full-time workers.
  • -After five years with the same employer, the minimum vacation entitlement for workers would rise to three weeks per year.
  • -Employers would be required to pay a worker three hours of wages if the employer cancels a shift with less than 48 hours notice.
  • -All workers would be given 10 personal emergency leave days a year, and a minimum of two of those days must be paid. (Currently only employees of large companies are entitled to this.

Small business operators and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce have said the increase in wages and other aspects of the changes will hurt them and result in layoffs and fewer employees hired.

Premier Wynne said her government would work with the small business operators to support them “as these changes come into effect”.

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