KAWARTHA LAKES-The Ontario government has announced they will publish the names of employers who don’t meet the new employment standards.
Officials say they are stepping up workplace enforcement, penalties and education to ensure all new worker rights are followed including raising the minimum wage, ensuring part-time workers are paid the same hourly wage as full-time workers, introducing paid sick days for every worker, and providing at least three weeks’ vacation after five years with the same employer.
To ensure enforcement of enhanced worker rights, Ontario is hiring 175 additional employment standards officers, launching a program to educate both businesses and employees about their rights and obligations under Ontario’s employment standards laws and increasing penalties issued by employment standards officers to non-compliant employers from $250, $500 and $1,000 to $350, $700 and $1,500, respectively, for the first, second and third (or subsequent) contravention of the Employment Standards Act within a three-year period. “Workers deserve to be treated fairly at work. The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act addresses the needs of the modern workplace and provides a minimum wage that workers can actually live on. We are hiring more employment standards officers to improve enforcement as well as funding education to ensure workplaces get the essential information they need. We want to ensure everyone who works hard has the chance to reach their full potential and share in Ontario’s prosperity.” says Kevin Flynn, Minister of Labour
Employers who refuse to pay employees could be hit with warrants and have liens registered on personal property.
The province will also be publishing names of employers that don’t meet employment standards, including a date and description of the contravention and the penalty.
Ontario is investing $500,000 in the Employment Standards Training and Education Program.
A report commissioned by the province in 2017 estimated that more than 30 per cent of Ontario workers were in precarious work in 2014. In 2016, the median hourly wage was $13 for part-time workers and $24.73 for full-time workers. Over the past 30 years, part-time work has grown to represent nearly 20 per cent of total employment.
photo credit: Lynn Friedman Kopps Cashier Woman via photopin (license)
