The Ontario Ministry of Labour recently announced the results of a proactive enforcement blitz on temporary help agencies that ran from January 1 to February 28, 2015. This was the sixth employment standards blitz conducted by the Ministry of Labour since 2012.
The Ministry of Labour carried out proactive inspections temp agencies to ensure compliance with the Employment Standards Act (ESA). Of the 50 agencies inspected, 36 were found to be in violation of the ESA. As a result of the blitz, the Ministry of Labour determined that $38,600 was owing to 2,989 employees. All of the unpaid wages uncovered during the blitz were paid voluntarily by employers.
Of the 50 temp agencies inspected, only 14 employers were found to be compliance with no violations.
The most common monetary violations were for:
- public holiday pay
- vacation pay
- overtime pay
- The most common non-monetary violations were for:
- record keeping
- hours of work – excess daily/weekly
- vacation pay – written agreements
Visit the Ministry of Labour website here for more information.