Ontario’s Proposed Changes to mass Lay-offs

The Ontario government is proposing updates to the Ontario Employment Standards Act (ESA) in an effort to protect remote workers. The proposed amendments seek to ensure that remote workers receive the same notice of termination, or pay-in-lieu of notice, as in-office employees would receive in mass termination situations. Currently, employers are only required to share the latest employment standards poster which highlights the new employee’s rights and responsibilities. The amendments to the ESA will require employers to provide new hires, prior to their first shift, with written information regarding remuneration, hours of work, and work location.

 

Under the ESA, mass terminations happen when the employer terminates 50 or more employees at an employer’s “establishment” within a four-week period. The pandemic sparked the largest shift to remote work. Within three months from the start of the pandemic, the majority of Canadians were working from home, changing the definition of workplace establishment. As a result, the ESA amendments aim to broaden the definition of “establishment” to include employees’ remote home offices.  The proposed amendments will provide remote workers with the right to receive enhanced notice of termination or pay-in-lieu of notice.