What is the Working for Workers Act?
The Working for Workers Act was first introduced in 2021 to address several challenges faced by employees in various sectors in Ontario. The Act was designed to better protect, support, and attract workers to the province. It also addresses the changing nature of work, including the increased prevalence of remote work.
Most recently, the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190), became law through the Government of Ontario on October 28, 2024. This new version of the Act provides policy, legislative, and regulatory updates to several areas affecting Ontario employees. In November 2024, the Working for Workers Six Act, 2024, was proposed, introducing even more additions and updates.
What’s new in the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024?
The Working for Workers Five Act, now passed into law, presents several updates to the original Act, which are summarized below:
Opportunities in skilled trades
- A new stream of the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP), Focused Apprenticeship Skills Training (FAST), has been created to allow students in grades 11 and 12 to participate in more apprenticeship opportunities while in high school. FAST ensures students learn the necessary skills to succeed and earn well-paying trade careers, including technical skills and hands-on learning experiences.
- A new online job-matching portal will make it easier for apprentices, journeypersons, and employers to network and share job opportunities.
- People interested in the skilled trades as a second career will be provided with a pathway if they meet alternative criteria, such as prior professional experience, but cannot meet specific academic entry requirements to register as an apprentice.
Related: Hiring someone for an apprenticeship: a guide
Removing barriers to employment
- Enabling multiple registration processes to take place concurrently for internationally trained workers to help speed up the registration process.
- Accepting alternative foreign credentials for registration where standard documents cannot be obtained for reasons beyond an applicant’s control, such as war or natural disasters.
- Expanding occupations eligible for the in-demand skills stream of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). Internal reviewer decision-making will also speed up processes within the OINP.
- Consulting on a new trusted employer model under the OINP to reduce the paperwork burden for reputable businesses.
- Completing the mandate to bring integrated, streamlined, and outcomes-oriented employment services to every region in the province. The province’s final three service system managers (SSMs) are confirmed for Toronto, Northeast, and Northwest Ontario as part of the province’s Employment Services Transformation (EST).
Related: Report — Breaking Down Barriers: For a Bright and Fair Future of Work
Keeping frontline workers healthy and safe
- Improving presumptive coverage to firefighters, fire investigators, and volunteers for primary-site skin cancer by lowering the required duration of service from 15 years to 10 years.
- Expanding presumptive coverage for occupational cancers, heart injuries, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to wildland firefighters and fire investigators to ensure they have the same presumptive coverage as municipal firefighters do.
- Permitting electronic copies of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) as part of the posting requirements.
- Allowing joint health and safety committee meetings to be held virtually.
- Launching a consultation to consider expanding the types of workers who would be presumptively entitled to benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder under the WSIA to further support workers who may be regularly affected by traumatic situations in their jobs.
- Reviewing the causes of critical injuries and fatalities in the construction sector.
- Launching a consultation on expanding the types of health and safety equipment provided on construction projects to inform future prevention strategies.
- Working to prevent future asbestos-related illnesses by incorporating asbestos-related data into the Ministry’s forthcoming occupational exposure registry.
- Reducing the paperwork burden for healthcare professionals by prohibiting employers from requiring a sick note from a medical professional for a worker’s job-protected sick leave under the Employment Standards Act (ESA).
Related: Risk and Burnout Push Healthcare Professionals Out
Supporting women at work
- Requiring sanitary products on construction projects with 20 or more regularly employed workers and where the project is expected to last at least three months.
- Requiring washrooms provided to workers to be clean and sanitary, and ensuring accountability by maintaining cleaning records as prescribed by regulations.
- Modernizing the definition of harassment to include protection against virtual harassment, including virtual sexual harassment, to respond to increasingly digital work practices and reflect the future of work.
Related: How to Remove Barriers for Women in the Workplace
Increasing fairness for jobseekers and employees
- Requiring employers to disclose in publicly advertised job postings whether a position is vacant and respond to applicants they have interviewed for those jobs.
- Doubling the maximum fine for individuals convicted of violating the ESA from $50,000 to $100,000.
- Making regulatory changes to increase the penalty for repeat offenders who have contravened the same provision of the ESA three or more times from $1,000 to $5,000.
- Effective October 1, 2024, increasing the minimum wage from $16.55 per hour to $17.20, a 3.9% annualized wage increase based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Related: How to Optimize Jobs from Your Career Site or ATS Directly on Indeed
What’s new in the Working for Workers Six Act, 2024, proposal?
The proposed Working for Workers Six Act, 2024, builds on the previous five Working for Workers Acts to grow Ontario’s workforce, keep costs down for workers and businesses, and support the well-being of workers and their families. These proposed changes are designed to build a brighter future for all Ontario workers and their families.
These new measures aim to grow Ontario’s workforce by bringing more women into the trades, cracking down on employers who exploit newcomers and harm workers, and introducing nation-leading cancer protections for firefighters.
The proposed sixth Working for Workers Act and its related regulatory changes, if passed, would:
- Enhance safety for roadside workers by expanding existing requirements for drivers to slow down and move over when passing emergency vehicles and tow trucks under the Highway Traffic Act and include work-related vehicles at roadside with flashing amber lights activated (excluding construction zones with posted speed limits).
- Support the safety and well-being of workers and their families by creating a new parental leave for parents through adoption and surrogacy with a 16-week job-protected leave under the Employment Standards Act.
- Create a new 27-week job-protected long-term illness leave for workers with a serious medical condition, such as cancer.
- Provide properly fitting PPE for women and all workers with diverse body shapes.
- Make available $400 million to invest in worker health and safety, including mental health and recovery, through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
- Improve cancer coverage for firefighters, investigators, and volunteers by lowering the required duration of service for specific cancers.
- Grow Ontario’s workforce by investing up to $1.4 billion through the Skills Development Fund to train over 1 million workers throughout the province and attract more healthcare workers to Ontario by expanding immigration pathways for qualified healthcare workers.
- Keep costs down for workers and businesses by giving back over $2.5 billion through rebating WSIB surpluses to hundreds of thousands of safe employers, reducing business premium rates to the lowest average level in half a century.
- Put more money back into workers’ pockets by waiving the fee for apprentices taking their first certificate of qualification exam, reducing costs for each apprentice by $330.
- Honour workers by celebrating the contributions of the Golden Generation of Skilled Tradespeople who are passing on their wisdom and expertise to the next generation of workers to shape Ontario’s future by creating a new Skilled Trades Week during the first week of November.
- Have strict consequences for employers who exploit newcomers and harm workers by introducing new standards, fines, and lifetime bans for fraudulent immigration representatives that exploit newcomers.
Related: How Employers Can Support A Better Work-Life Balance For Working Parents
The Working for Workers Act continues to be updated and enhanced to support Ontario employees and their families. The Act promotes skilled trades, support for healthcare and frontline workers, and provides additional resources for women in the workforce.
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