Working for Workers Four Act Brings Important Changes for Employers
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Ontario’s Working for Workers Four Act receives royal assent!
On March 21, Ontario’s Bill 149, Working for Workers Four Act, 2024 received royal assent.
The statutes amended by Bill 149 “Working for Workers” are :
- Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the ESA)
- Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022
- Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act, 2006
- Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997
New ESA rules
The changes to the ESA are noteworthy in that they have broad application to employers in the province:
- Trial Periods. Effective March 21, 2024, the definition of “employee” in the ESA is revised to expressly include individuals completing a “trial period” for an employer and will be subject to minimum standards under the ESA, including minimum wage, overtime and hours of work rules.
- Wage Deductions for Customer Theft. Effective March 21, 2024, wage deduction rules are clarified to expressly prohibit deductions from employee wages where a customer leaves an establishment without paying for goods or services. For example, a restaurant employer would be expressly prohibited from deducting the wages of a server when a customer “dines and dashes.”
- Tips. Effective June 21, 2024, payment methods for tips and other gratuities will be subject to express rules. Additionally, employers who pool/share employee tips with the employer (or a director or shareholder of the employer) will be required to post their tip sharing/pooling policies in the workplace. A copy of the policy must be retained for three years after the policy ceases to be in effect.
- Vacation pay. Effective June 21, 2024, the ESA’s vacation pay provision will be amended to clarify that a written agreement with an employee is required to pay that employee’s vacation pay on regular pay days, or at some time other than at the time of the employee’s vacation.
- Job Postings. Effective on a date to be determined by the government, publicly advertised job postings will be subject to new requirements:
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- They must include expected compensation for the advertised position or the range of expected compensation for the position.
- They must disclose whether the employer uses artificial intelligence (AI) to screen, assess or select applicants for the position.
- They must not include any job requirements related to the Canadian experience. This prohibition on Canadian experience job requirements also applies to job application forms.