On March 21, 2024 Bill 149, Working for Workers Four Act, 2023 (Bill 149) received Royal Assent. As discussed in our initial blog, More Legislative Changes on the Horizon for Ontario Employers, late last year when the...more
On November 14, 2023, the Ontario government tabled Bill 149, Working for Workers Four Act, 2023 (Bill 149) which, as of the date of this blog, has been referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy. If implemented as...more
Competition Bureau Publishes Related Enforcement Guidelines Canada's new criminal prohibition on wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements will come into force on June 23, 2023. These new provisions under subsection 45(1.1) of...more
Last year, the Competition Act was amended to make it a criminal offense for two or more unrelated employers to enter into wage-fixing or no-poaching agreements. As we discussed last summer, these new provisions come into...more
On December 12, 2022, the Ontario Legislature published Regulation 559/22: Naloxone Kits (Regulation) providing further details on the naloxone kit requirements introduced as part of the Working for Workers Act, 2022, (Bill...more
As you may have heard or read in our earlier blog, Ontario Introduces Employee-Friendly Legislation Which Includes Prohibition on Non-Competes, the government introduced Bill 27: Working for Workers Act, 2021 in late October...more
The Ontario government introduced legislation on October 25, 2021, which if passed, will prohibit non-competes in employment agreements, mandate that employers have a "disconnect from work" policy and require temporary help...more
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Ontario, Premier Ford announced on September 28, 2020, that Ontario "is in the second wave". As part of measures to flatten the curve during this second wave of COVID-19,...more
On April 21, 2020, the federal government announced that applications for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) will open on April 27, and provided details on the application process as well as information on (and access...more
On Saturday April 11, 2020, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, No. 2 received Royal Assent, thereby amending the Income Tax Act (Canada) to give effect to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) framework that the federal...more
Changes Announced on April 8, 2020 -
On April 8, 2020, the federal government disclosed updated eligibility and coverage information on its proposed Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), the preliminary details of which...more
As previously reported in our March 25, 2020 posting, in the circumstances of the current public health emergency caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus the Ontario Government issued a list of categories of essential...more
As an alternative to engaging in layoffs or reducing work-weeks (which we discuss in Employer's Guide to COVID-19—Managing Issues of Pay), an employer may consider applying for relief under the existing Canadian Work Sharing...more
Previously, the federal government announced a wage subsidy of up to 10 percent for small businesses, up to a maximum of $1,375 per worker and $25,000 per employer. On Friday, March 27, 2020, the federal government announced...more
On April 1, 2020, the federal government disclosed additional eligibility and coverage information on its proposed Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), the preliminary details of which were introduced in announcements made...more
On March 25, 2020, the Canadian government announced the creation of a temporary program called the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to address the overwhelming number of Employment Insurance (EI) applications...more