New Ontario Rules
The Ontario Government has announced its intention to introduce legislation which will prohibit the need for Canadian employment history in job postings. The purpose of such law is to allow foreign workers to begin work in their professions. 1 This bill became law in March of 2024.
In addition, Ontario has stated that it is considering legislation which would parallel the Federal Employment Insurance protections. Presently, EI sick benefits are allowed up to 26 weeks, as of December 18, 2022. Ontario is contemplating a law which will provide for a 26 week job protected medical leave period. At this time, the sick leave period is set at three days of unpaid leave. Consultation with effected interest groups is now ongoing.
Such revisions are independent of the right of worker to claim a human rights remedy in the event of termination or other discipline due to a medical disability or a perceived one.
Bill 149 requires employers to include in any publicly advertised job posting the expected compensation for the position.
In addition, the new law requires any employer which uses AI to screen candidates to disclose this fact.
Employers are also be required to retain records of such publicly advertised positions for 3 years from the date of posting.
Other new terms which are industry specific, include:
- A prohibition on employer unilateral offsets in the hospitality industry where a customer “dines and dashes” as a means of recovering this sum from the server;
- An amendment to the ESA to set out the methods by which gratuities are paid;
- A policy on tip sharing must be posted conspicuously in the workplace;
- The ESA is proposed to be amended to revise the meaning of “training” to include any trial period would be included in this definition of “employee”. The apparent intent is to ban unpaid trial periods.