Labour Law Changes—Should I Care?

Provincial governments in Alberta and Ontario recently made extensive changes to their labour and employment legislation. In both provinces, these changes are the most significant in the last 30 years.

You may be asking yourself, why should I care? After all, what governments choose to do with labour and employment legislation really doesn’t concern me all that much.

But wait a minute. A list of some of the changes made may cause you to think otherwise.

As you probably have heard, Ontario’s Bill 148 (Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017) raises the minimum wage to $14 per hour on January 1, 2018, and $15 per hour on January 1, 2019. While the minimum wage hike is getting all the attention, the bill includes many other changes that may have an affect on you and your family members, such as

• new leaves of absence and extending existing ones,
• three weeks of vacation per year after five years of service,
• new rules related to work call-in shifts, and
• help for employees and employers who are negotiating a first collective agreement.

In Alberta, Bill 17 (Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act)

• enhances leave entitlements,
• replaces compressed work weeks with hours-of-work averaging agreements,
• removes the 30-day qualifier for holiday pay, and
• changes the rules related to overtime agreements.

It too provides many other changes.

In both Ontario and Alberta, these changes to labour law will affect most working people one way or another. Even if none of them apply to you personally, chances are some will apply to your friends and family.

As the Alberta government noted, “Alberta’s Employment Standards Code provides minimum standards of employment that apply to the majority of employers and employees in the province, with the exception of those working in federally regulated industries. The Code applies to approximately 85% of all employment relationships in Alberta.”

Like it or not, what governments do does matter, which is why CLAC will continue to be on top of these changes, as well as those in other provinces, and how they affect our members.

Take some time to learn about the changes and how they will affect you and your family. Be informed and stay informed. After all, ignorance is not always bliss, and knowledge is empowering.