Thursday, June 12, 2025 Bill 30 Working for Workers Summary The seventh edition of Ontario’s Working for Workers legislation provides improvements to safety, training, and apprenticeships and protection from fraudulent job postings News Construction By Daniel Walessa, Representative Intern Ontario’s Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025, recently introduced by Minister of Labour David Piccini as Bill 30, provides enhanced safety measures for construction workers by requiring automated external defibrillators (AEDs) where 20 or more workers are on site and the project is expected to last over 3 months. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) will initially reimburse employers for the cost of acquiring AEDs. A second provision in the bill that is good for workers is fast-tracking construction of training centres that qualify for support by the provincial Skills Development Fund. Removing administrative barriers to building these centres is expected to help workers upskill more quickly. A third change is designed to provide apprentices more opportunities to gain experience at job sites. Requiring minimum numbers of apprentices to be placed on public infrastructure jobs will allow more opportunities for career progression and help make the path to completion more efficient. A fourth proposal in Bill 30 discusses protecting workers from fraudulent job postings—a growing concern for the province. Operators of job-posting platforms will be required to have a procedure to report false job postings as well as a written policy on how the platform will deal with false job postings. Finally, this bill will also require employers that layoff 50 or more workers to give workers up to 3 days unpaid time off for job searches, interviews, job fairs, or training. How does Bill 30 affect employers? One change Bill 30 has that will positively affect construction contractors is the recognition of equivalency of ISO and COR health and safety management systems. This will remove an artificial scarcity of bidders caused by choosing one of the other of these safety accreditation programs. Employers will also be required to ensure their AED deployment policies comply with Bill 30. Furthermore, employers are motivated to keep health and safety policies updated as Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors are assigned enhanced power to fine employers for failing inspections. Additionally, employers who provide false statements or late payments of premiums to WSIB will be subject to very high fines of up to $750,000 depending on the circumstances and their history with WSIB. You might be interested in CLAC Receives Union Training and Innovation Grant From Federal Government 8 Jul 2025 Percon Construction Employees Unanimously Ratify New Agreement 3 Jul 2025 Tabor Manor Employees Overwhelmingly Ratify New Two-Year Contract 3 Jul 2025 Everyday Champion! 2 Jul 2025