As our readers will recall, Ontario’s Minister of Labour appointed C. Michael Mitchell and former Justice John C. Murray as Special Advisors to lead the Changing Workplaces Review, seeking recommendations to modernize Ontario’s Employment Standards Act and Labour Relations Act.
In July, 2016, the Special Advisors released an Interim Report detailing various options to overhaul employment and labour laws in Ontario. Emond Harnden issued a Focus Alert detailing some of the proposed recommendations in the Interim Report (see Ontario considers options to amend the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act).
Emond Harnden also made submissions in response to the Interim Report (see Emond Harnden’s Submissions on the Changing Workplace Review Special Advisors’ Interim Report).
The Final Report, released on May 23, 2017, represents the first independent review in Canada of both employment standards and labour relations legislation in a simultaneous process. The Final Report contains over 170 recommendations which, if implemented, will have significant impacts on employers in Ontario. The Minister of Labour, Kevin Flynn, has indicated that any proposed changes to the respective pieces of legislation will be announced within the next few days.
In the meantime, we will be reviewing the Final Report and will issue Focus Alerts detailing our views on the recommendations and the possible impacts of any proposed amendments to both the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act.
More information on the Final Report can be accessed at the following link: www.ontario.ca/page/changing-workplaces-review-summary-report.
For further information please contact André Champagne at 613-940-2735, or Sébastien Huard at 613-940-2744, or Paul Lalonde at 613-940-2759.
