Update – Ontario’s Fifth Working for Workers Act Receives Royal Assent

David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, issued the following statement after the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 received Royal Assent.

“With our fifth Working for Workers Act now law, our government continues to lead Canada by strengthening supports for frontline heroes, growing Ontario’s workforce, and cutting red tape to help more workers get better training, for better jobs, with bigger paychecks. The legislative and regulatory changes in the Working for Workers Five package will:

• Support frontline heroes by implementing the lowest required duration of service in Canada for firefighters, investigators and volunteers to be eligible for presumptive WSIB coverage for primary-site skin cancer, from 20 years to 10 years, and ensuring wildland firefighters and wildland fire investigators have the same coverage for occupational cancers, heart injuries, and PTSD as municipal firefighters do.

• Encourage and enable more women to start a career in the trades by requiring menstrual products be made available on larger construction sites, cracking down on virtual harassment, and requiring all workplaces to have clean and sanitary washrooms and records of cleaning – a first-in-Canada measure that is bringing clean washrooms from Bay Street to Main Street

• Crack down on bad actor employers by increasing the maximum fines that can be issued to individuals convicted of violating the Employment Standards Act.

• Improve fairness for jobseekers and employees by requiring employers to disclose whether a vacancy truly exists in publicly advertised job postings and respond to interviewees within a specified period.

• Put patients before paperwork by prohibiting sick notes as evidence of entitlement to the three job-protected unpaid sick-leave days.

These changes expand on groundbreaking measures included in our four previous Working for Workers Acts since 2021, which are already helping millions of people.

By putting workers first, we can and will bring the Ontario dream within reach of more people, and ensure Ontario remains the very best place to live, work and raise a family.”