Legislative & Regulatory Changes

Subscribe to Legislative & Regulatory Changes via RSS

The Government of Canada released its 2018 budget plan on February 27, 2018, entitled “Equality and Growth”. The budget plan proposes various initiatives aimed at improving women’s equality in the workforce and addressing the gender wage gap. The budget proposes to implement a new parental leave benefit that is likely to have an impact upon both provincially and federally regulated employers. The budget also proposes changes to the federal pay equity regime and online reporting of pay information filed under the Employment Equity Act.
Continue Reading Budget 2018: New Parental Leave Benefit & Pay Equity Regime

Bill 148: Review & Compliance Check

We invite you to join Baker McKenzie’s Employment & Compensation Group in Toronto on February 28, 2018 as we review key changes under Ontario’s Bill 148 and provide practical guidance to assist you in meeting the new legislative requirements. For the event details and to register, please click here

Ontario employers face a number of new challenges in 2018 as a result of the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 (“Bill 148”). To help employers navigate the many changes under Bill 148, we have outlined the key changes that employers need to be aware of. We have also indicated planning actions to consider in view of these changes.
Continue Reading Bill 148: Key Changes & What to Do About Them

Last week, Employment and Social Development Canada confirmed that new Employment Insurance (“EI”) parental, maternity and caregiving benefits will come into force on December 3, 2017. The new EI benefits were proposed in Federal Budget 2017 (see our previous blog post here) to support employees who need time off work due to life events. The key changes are outlined below.
Continue Reading December 3 Brings New EI Parental, Maternity & Caregiving Benefits

We have written over the past two years about a growing wave of significant lawsuits in Canada against corporations for alleged international labour and human rights violations in their overseas operations or supply chains. As we have reported, Canada’s judiciary is demonstrating a willingness to expand their jurisdictional reach to permit such claims to proceed. Canadian judges are keeping an open mind as to whether a novel duty of care exists between multinational companies and the upstream foreign supply chain workers or the local residents affected by their operations.
Continue Reading Door Still Open? Canada As Safe Harbour For Multinational Human Rights Litigation

On June 19, 2017, five years after “gender identity” and “gender expression” were added as protected grounds of discrimination in Ontario’s Human Rights Code, the Federal government has added “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Continue Reading Federal Government Adds “Gender Identity” And “Gender Expression” to Canadian Human Rights Act

We recently wrote about the Ontario government’s proposed changes to the province’s employment standards and labour relations legislation – see our blog posts here and here. On June 1, 2017, the Minister of Labour, the Honourable Kevin Flynn, introduced legislation to affect these changes.
Continue Reading Early Approval Across Party Lines for ESA & LRA Amending Legislation

Further to our recent blog post about the Ontario government’s reform of the employment standards legislation through The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, employers can also expect significant changes to the legislation governing unionized workplaces. The key changes proposed in respect of Ontario’s Labour Relations Act (“LRA”) concern union certification, bargaining unit structure, first contracts, just cause protection, return-to-work rights and procedures, successor rights, and fines for individuals and organizations, which are summarized below.
Continue Reading Ontario Set to Make Significant Changes to Labour Relations Act

The Ontario government has announced that it will introduce legislation, The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, in the coming days to reform the province’s employment standards legislation. The announcement follows last week’s release of the Changing Workplaces Review Final Report which contained a myriad of recommendations for reforms to benefit employees.[1]

The key changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) that the government has indicated will be included in the proposed legislation are summarized below.
Continue Reading Ontario Responds Quickly to Strengthen ESA

On March 22, 2017, the Canadian Federal Government released Budget 2017: Building a Strong Middle Class (“Budget 2017”) which proposes more flexible parental, maternity and caregiving leaves and Employment Insurance (“EI”) benefits to support employees in balancing work and their family responsibilities.
Continue Reading Federal Budget Changes to Parental, Maternity & Caregiving Leaves