Howard Levitt: It’s an employee’s world. Employers are just living in it
By Howard Levitt and Gregory Sills
It’s not often that we find statutory amendments of interest, let alone as the subject for a newspaper column. Generally, such legislation is dry, technical, and lacks enough punch to interest the reader.
However, the Ford government’s proposed changes to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act are not typical. The legislation would raise the fines for any number of violations by an employer — the incorrect payment of wages, say, or the improper handling of employee leaves of absences, or unequal pay for equal work. The maximum fine for violators is proposed to double from $50,000 to a national high of $100,000, while the minimum penalty for repeat offenders would jump from $1,000 to $5,000 per violation (similarly on the high end of the Canadian spectrum).
While many employment matters contain a human rights element, it is noteworthy that discriminatory practices are increasingly being codified outside of human rights legislation, further blurring the distinction between the two areas of law. Whether the dualing legislation will give rise to two separate remedies remains to be seen, but chances are it will.
It also appears that the Ontario Government has heard the cry of job applicants left hanging by would-be employers during the hiring process. As it currently stands, an employer is under no obligation to let applicants know if they have chosen to go another direction, resulting in the all-too-common experience of professional “ghosting.” Under the proposed framework, larger employers (exact size TBD) will be obligated to respond to candidates they have interviewed for posted positions, and face potential fines if applicants are treated to the usual radio silence once eliminated. Though
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