On Nov. 21, 2018, the Ontario government passed Bill 47, Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018 (“Bill 47“). This Bill was the Conservative government’s response to major legislative reforms by the predecessor Liberal government affecting Ontario’s workplaces. Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 (“Bill 148“) was tabled in June of 2017, and brought considerable amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) and the Labour Relations Act (“LRA“).
After Bill 148 was passed in late November 2017, many employers scrambled to ensure that their procedures complied with the changes, most of which came into force on January 1, 2018. However, with a change in government came a change in policy and, as we previously discussed, Bill 47 sought to Roll Back the Clock on Labour Reforms in Ontario. Many changes introduced by Bill 148 were either modified or repealed through Bill 47.
