Joel Gomes presented on upcoming changes to Ontario's employment and labour laws. Major changes include increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour by 2019, expanding personal emergency leave provisions, and strengthening unionization processes. Employers need to review policies, communicate changes, and ensure compliance with the Employment Standards Act and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act to avoid hefty penalties. Beneplan HR Advisory services have assisted over 140 clients with issues like benefits administration, terminations, and compliance requirements. Keeping informed of legislative changes and improving employee communication were emphasized.

1. Joel Gomes, CHRL (2018)
Beneplan HR Conference, November 2017
The Changing HR Landscape
Is Your Business Ready?

2. What We’ll CoverToday
• Did You Know? Change is afoot!
• Future Changes To Ontario’s Employment & Labour
Laws
• Compliance and Consequence
• Is Your Business Ready? Tips for Preparedness
• Client Case Analysis and Learnings

3. Did you know? Change is Afoot!
• EI waiting period has been reduced from two weeks to one week,
effective January 1, 2017
• Minimum wage in Ontario has changed to $11.60/hour effective
October 1, 2017
• Bill 148, the “Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act 2017”, introduced in
legislature on June 1, 2017. Second reading complete and referred to
Standing Committee on Finance & Economic Affairs
• By all accounts the bill will pass and once that happens, all proposals
within the bill become statute as of January 1st 2018.
• Minimum wage in Ontario will change to $14 an hour on January 1,
2018 and to $15 an hour by January 1, 2019.These changes will make
Ontario the second province (Alberta was the first) to publicly target a
$15 minimum wage.

4. Ontario Minimum Wage Changes

5. Future Changes - January 2018
• Vacation Entitlement Increase: After 5 yrs service with same employer,
minimum vacation entitlement for workers would rise from two to three
weeks/yr.Vacation pay records need to be maintained by employer for 5 yrs
versus current 3 yrs requirement.
• Public Holiday Pay: Calculation changes that refer to regular wages in the
pay period before the holiday divided by the days worked (rather than a four-
week period of regular wages divided by 20)
• Overtime Pay: The Mixed Hourly Rate (a weighted average established for
employees with multiple rates) would be eliminated in favor of paying
overtime at the rate of the work performed after the weekly threshold is
reached (44 hours)

6. Future Changes - January 2018
• Personal Emergency Leave: Instead of limiting this leave to organizations
with more than 50 employees, ALL workers will now be given 10 personal
emergency leave days per year.
• Personal Emergency Leave: A minimum of two days would have to be paid,
as opposed to the current state where none are required to be paid.
• Physician’s note: Employees will not have to provide employers with a sick
leave note when requesting personal emergency leave.

7. Future Changes - January 2018

8. Future Changes - January 2018

9. Future Changes - January 2018

10. Changes Jan 2018 – Changes to LRA
• Proposed legislation would establish card-based union certification
for the temporary help agency industry, the building services sector
and home care and community services industry.
• It would also make the following changes to the union certification
process:
o Eliminate certain conditions for remedial union certification, allowing
unions to more easily get certified when an employer engages in
misconduct that contravenes the LRA.
o Making access to first contract arbitration easier, and also adding an
intensive mediation component to the process.
o Require the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to address first
contract mediation-arbitration applications before dealing with
displacement and decertification applications.

11. Changes Jan 2018 – Changes to LRA
• (…..contd.)
o Allow unions to access employee lists and certain contact
information, provided the union can demonstrate that it has
already achieved the support of 20 per cent of employees
involved.
o Expressly empower the OLRB to conduct votes outside the
workplace, including electronically and by telephone.
o Empower the OLRB to authorize Labour Relations Officers to
give directions relating to the voting process and voting
arrangements in order to help assure the neutrality of the
voting process.

12. Changes Jan 2018 – Changes to LRA
• (…..contd.)
o Just Cause Protection - protects employees from being
disciplined or discharged without just cause in the period
between certification & conclusion of a first contract.
o Just Cause Protection - protects employees from being
disciplined or discharged without just cause during the period
between the date the employees are in a legal strike or lock-out
position and the new collective agreement.
o Fines – Increases to maximum fines under the LRA to $5,000 for
individuals and $100,000 for organizations (from the current
$2,000 for individuals and $25,000 for organizations).

13. More Future Changes – Jan 2018
• Employee scheduling and work locations - Employees would
have the right to request schedule/location changes after having
been employed for three months, without fear of reprisal.
• Advance notice - Employees can refuse to accept shifts without
repercussion if their employer asks them to work with less than
four days' notice (96 hrs minimum).
• Independent contractors -The proposed legislation would
prohibit employers from misclassifying employees as
"independent contractors."This is intended to address cases
where employers improperly treat their employees as if they are
self-employed and not entitled to the protections of the ESA.

14. More Future Changes – Jan 2019
• Call-in pay - three-hour rule - Employees who regularly work
more than three hours per day, but upon reporting to work are
given less than three hours, must be paid three hours at their
regular rate of pay.
• There will not be an option anymore, to pay minimum wage for
the minimum daily hours.

15. AODA Compliance Report Due Dec 2017
• Every three (3) years nonprofits & businesses with 20+ employees
need to complete a compliance report with the Ontario Govt.
confirming their compliance with the AODA.
• For public sector organizations, this must be done every two (2)
years.
• Note:You’ll need your company’s legal name, business number
and the name/ contact information of your certifier (a director or
senior officer with legal authority to say that the report is
complete and accurate).

16. AODA Compliance Report Due Dec 2017
• In an effort to streamline what has been a challenging process in
the past, now you just have three steps:
o Download the Accessibility Compliance Reporting Form
o Complete it by answering the questions relevant to your
organization’s size and type.
o Submit your completed form, after which you will a
confirmation email that includes an accessible PDF copy of
your report for your files.

17. ESA Non-Compliance Proposals
• Enhancing ESA Enforcement:
o Plans to hire up to 175 more Employment Standards officers.
o Launch a program to educate both employees and small and
medium businesses about rights and obligations under the
ESA.
o This will help employers understand their obligations and
ensure compliance.
• Penalties for Non-Compliance of the ESA: Increase flexibility
around administrative monetary penalties that Employment
Standards Officers can give out to non-compliant employers.

18. ESA Non-Compliance Proposals
• There is intention to amend a regulation under the ESA to
increase maximum administrative monetary penalties for non-
compliant employers from $250, $500, and $1000 to $350, $700,
and $1500, respectively.
• Proposal to allow a Director of Employment Standards to publish
(including online) the names of individuals who have been issued
a penalty, a description of the contravention, the date of the
contravention and the amount of penalty.

19. AODA Non-Compliance Consequence
• Businesses with less than 20 employees don’t need to file the
compliance report, but still have obligations under the Customer
Standard of AODA.
• Obligations include:
o Establish policies, practices & procedures on providing
goods/services to people with disabilities;
o Provide people with disabilities with notice of a temporary
disruption in facilities or services; and
o Provide training to certain employees about the provision of its
goods or services to persons with disabilities.

20. AODA Non-Compliance Consequence
• A non compliant organization (with more than 20 employees) is
given 15 business days to comply with the AODA.
• Thereafter, it would be subject to a fine of up to $50,000 for each
day the organization does not comply with the AODA.
• To be issued an order with the maximum penalty amount, the
person, organization or corporation must have a compliance
history that includes six or more previous contraventions; and the
contravention must be a priority requirement of the accessibility
standard, as determined by the ministry.
• More info on AODA enforcement penalties: http://bit.ly/2xnZDET

21. AODA Non-Compliance Consequence
Individuals/Unincorporated Organizations Corporations
Administrative Penalties for:

22. Preparing for the Changes
• Possible minimum wage updates and could require organizations
to adjust their:
o payroll set ups (vacation accruals),
o Policies regarding disability leave (STD/WI),
o workforce policy rules (overtime, holidays & three-hour rule),
o scheduling processes.
• Avoid duplication of effort and confusion - Ensure that you have a
single person in the office who is charged with the responsibility
of keeping up to speed with ESA changes.
• This individual must understand the impacts to, and requirements
of ensuring that your business is compliant.

23. Preparing for the Changes
• Start an internal process and policy review now;
• Determine and confirm potential impacts in the context of your
day to day operations.
• Communicate with your business partners and your employees.
• Work with your partners to understand how best to adjust.
• Keep yourself and your employees informed. Be transparent.
• Problems arise when employers don’t keep themselves informed
and are not engaged with legislative changes.
• Ask for help. Sometimes its impossible to be an Army of One.
We’re here to assist.

24. Client Case Analysis: Beneplan HR Advisory
• Beneplan’s HR Advisory Services for clients was launched in
March 2017.
• All cases are handled with utmost regard to confidentiality &
privacy for both employer and employee.
• We’ve provided support and advice for over 140 cases to date.
• We’ve hear from over 45 of our clients from diverse industry
sectors.

25. Client Case Analysis: Beneplan HR Advisory
The top 3 categories of areas of support needed by our clients are:
• Employee Life Cycle issues:
o Benefits, Leave ofAbsence, Return toWork,Assist with
Policy Creation, Administrative Template Letters,
Progressive Discipline Process,Warning Letters etc.)
• Separation of Employment issues:
o Termination of Employement, Resignations etc.
• Compliance Items:
o ESA, AODA, Human Rights, Investigations, Accomodations,
Employer Obligations etc.

26. Improve Your Employee Experience
• Employee issues typically arise when employers don’t keep
themselves informed or are not engaged with employees:
o We know there’s an issue but we haven’t addressed it - we were busy
with running the business.
o No news is Good News!
o Trying to put in a drastic fix when its too late.
• Keep lines of communication open:
o Listen to your employees and keep an open mind.
o They’re human & have personal lives that impact their work lives.
o Be collaborative, build trust, share information -The more the better.

27. Improve Your Employee Experience
• Get your documentation in order: Begin with employment
contracts and work through the employee life cycle.This work
will save you a lot of trouble later on.
• Document all discussions with employees. Leave no chance for
“he said, she said…”, ambiguity or misunderstanding.
• Issues dealt with in an inconsistent manner: unprepared, hap-
hazard manner, no clarity.
• Follow up/ Follow through: Instances where employers begin a
course of action but no subsequent follow up or follow through.
• Follow the Beneplan Blog – http://beneplan.ca/blog/ Lots of
useful information on a monthly basis!

28. Questions? Comments?
Joel Gomes
Sr. HR Manager
Beneplan Inc.
hr@beneplan.ca
(416) 863-6718 ext. 268
Yafa Sakkejha
General Manager
Beneplan Inc.
yafa@beneplan.ca
(416) 863-6718 ext. 252