In May 2018, the Ontario government announced a review of the public holiday system under the Employment Standards Act. The government will reinstate the previous holiday pay calculation, coming into effect July 1.
As part of the OCC’s advocacy surrounding Bill 148, the Fairer Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, the Ontario Chamber Network raised the alarm about unintended consequences of the new calculation for public holiday pay for employees under the Employment Standards Act (ESA). Under the changes introduced as part of Bill 148, employers would be expected to pay part-time employees the full eight hours for each holiday, even if they had only worked occasionally during the month. This meant that part-time employees would be entitled to the same holiday pay as full-time employees. We asked that the government return to the prior calculation to avoid a system that would be unfair to some workers.
In May 2018 the Ontario government announced that, after hearing from stakeholders, it will undertake a review of the public holiday system of the Employment Standards Act this year. As an interim measure, the government will reinstate the previous holiday pay calculation, coming into effect July 1.
For more information and to learn about other policy and advocacy updates for Ontario, please visit the Ontario Chamber of Commerce website.
