The Closing the Gap team released its latest report – An Agenda for Change – at a Policy Forum on June 19, 2017.
Partners and stakeholders gathered at the Sam Sorbara Auditorium at St. Michael’s College to hear the latest research results from the Closing the Employment Standards Enforcement Gap project. Presentations focused on the scope and coverage of the Employment Standards Act (ESA), exemptions, individual claims, inspections, recovery, penalties, and strategic enforcement, highlighting the need to bring these aspects of the ESA into line with the changing realities of Ontario’s labour market and the persistence of precarious jobs, in particular. Participants also engaged in roundtable discussions on these topics, exploring what needs to be done to ensure that workers in Ontario are properly covered by the ESA, and that the Act’s provisions are enforced effectively.
The report is timely, as it comes on the heels of both the final report of Ontario’s Changing Workplace Review, released at the end of May, and Bill-148, through which the Ontario government is seeking to enact the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017. Public Hearings on Bill 148 will be taking place across Ontario for the weeks of July 10 to July 14, 2017, and July 17 to July 21, 2017.
Read An Agenda for Change here.
For more information on the proposed legislation, visit the Ontario Ministry of Labour here.