By Howard Levitt and Kathryn Marshall
Last week we had the pleasure of a private meeting with Ontario’s Minister of Labour Monte McNaughton to hear about the new piece of workplace-related legislation he planned to announce.
McNaughton’s latest offering ensures that remote and hybrid workers have the same enhanced notice or severance entitlements as office workers during mass layoffs.
Remote and hybrid workers will now be entitled to the same eight-week minimum notice as office workers when a mass layoff happens.
This change updates Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, which of course was drafted long before remote work was the norm.
McNaughton has seemingly set a goal for himself to update the antiquated ESA as much as possible to reflect the changing nature of work in the post-COVID-19 era.
The mass layoffs clause in the ESA applies when 50 or more people at an “establishment” are terminated within a four-week period.
Of course, these days, for many people, “establishment” means their kitchen counter or any other spot with Wi-Fi, like their local Starbucks.
But the ESA doesn’t recognize your remote office as an “establishment” for the purpose of providing notice during a mass layoff.
This simple, yet no-brainer amendment will make a difference for remote and hybrid workers. And importantly, it humanizes them.
This acknowledgement will be especially important in the tech sector, which has been hit by a wave of mass layoffs recently. And it looks like there are more to...
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