Canadian Payroll Reporter

6 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 News October 2016 | CPR presented in their Changing Workplaces Review Special Ad- visors' Interim Report. Last year, the Ontario govern- ment appointed lawyer Michael Mitchell and former Justice John Murray to review the acts and make recommendations on changes that would "better pro- tect workers while supporting businesses in our changing econ- omy." The government says it is the first comprehensive review carried out for both acts. The advisors held consulta- tions across the province in the summer of 2015, hearing from over 200 presenters and receiv- ing about 300 submissions, before releasing their interim report this summer. Before pre- paring a final report for the gov- ernment, the advisors say they want more feedback. "The breadth of the review and the number and variety of submissions made in the con- sultation process have led us to conclude that Ontarians should not only be informed of the is- sues and options for legislative change that have been identi- fied and discussed, but also they should have an opportunity to comment before we make our final report with recommenda- tions," the interim report states. The interim report provides background information on the need for a review of the laws, including a look at how factors such as globalization, trade liber- alization, technological change, demographic change and the growth of the service sector are affecting employers and workers. "Employers come to this dis- cussion having to compete in a new, highly competitive, dy- namic and changing economy. This economy and the changes in it move at lightning speed, and in this environment, em- ployers have to adapt and be flexible," it says. The report also states that unions, employee advocates and some academics and policy insti- tutes believe precarious work is a growing problem for workers. "There is widespread agree- ment in this group that signifi- cant and growing numbers of workers — particularly women (but also increasing numbers of men), members of racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, youth — are working in low- wage jobs, many of them tempo- rary, many of them unstable with little or no security, and mostly without benefits." The report also notes that non- standard employment, such as temporary work, part-time work, holding multiple jobs at once, and self-employment without paid help, is growing faster than stan- dard employment in Ontario. From 1997 to 2015, the report says non-standard employment grew at an average annual rate of 2.3 per cent, compared to 1.2 per cent for standard employment. In 2015, non-standard employ- ment made up 26.6 per cent of Ontario's workforce, compared to 23.1 per cent in 1997. Based on their consultations, the advisors put forward a num- ber of options for reforming the two laws to ensure that they re- flect these changes. For the Em- ployment Standards Act, 2000, the report examines a wide array of provisions of interest to pay- roll professionals, including the following: Pay periods: Other than for commission-based employees in the automobile sales sector, the act does not legislate limits on how long or short pay periods can be or the days of the week that they can start or end. In ad- dition, an employer's work week does not have to correspond to its pay period. The report states that Ministry of Labour staff have expressed concerns about the act's pay peri- od requirements. In cases where an employer's pay period is not the same as its work week, staff says it takes "substantially" more time for Employment Standards officers to determine if the em- ployer has complied with work- week based requirements, such as overtime pay. Ministry of Labour staff says it would be easier to determine compliance if the act required that pay periods and work weeks be harmonized (e.g., by permit- ting only weekly or bi-weekly pay periods). The report asks for feedback on these options. Paid vacations: The report states that "compared to other Canadian provinces and the federal jurisdiction, Ontario has the least generous provi- sions with respect to vacation time and pay." It asks for feedback on wheth- er the act should continue to require only a minimum of two weeks of paid vacation per year or whether it should increase to three weeks after a certain num- ber of years or to a minimum of three weeks for all employees. Public holidays: The report asks for comment on whether public holiday pay standards should be simplified. For ex- ample, it sets out the possibility of reverting to a previous public holiday pay calculation that re- quired employers to pay employ- ees their regular wages for a holi- day to which they are entitled. Current law requires employ- ers to calculate holiday pay based on the total amount of regular wages earned and vacation pay payable to an employee in the four work weeks before the one in which the public holiday oc- curs, divided by 20. For employees whose work hours vary, the report asks if the holiday pay calculation should be changed to use an average of the employee's daily earnings (excluding overtime pay) over a period of 13 work weeks before the holiday or the method set out in a collective agreement that applies in the workplace. Hours of work and overtime pay: The report sets out a num- ber of options for changing the hours of work and overtime re- quirements, including reducing the overtime pay threshold from 44 hours to 40, putting a limit on the number of weeks that overtime averaging agreements can be in effect and eliminating 'New, highly competitive, dynamic economy' from ONTARIO on page 1 continues on page 7 Credit: Junior Braz/Shutterstock Should the act continue to require only a minimum of two weeks of paid vacation per year or should it increase to three weeks after a certain number of years or a minimum of three weeks for all workers?

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