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leave, stating that the employee cannot
work due to complications caused by
pregnancy, the expected due date, and/
or the actual date of birth, stillbirth or
miscarriage is a physician, nurse practitioner
or a midwife.

Vacation

What changes have been made?
The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act
increases paid vacation from two weeks
to three weeks for employees who have
5 years or more of service with the same
employer.

Part-time casual wage parity
What changes have been made with regard
to equal pay for casual, part-time, temporary
and seasonal employees?
The changes provide wage parity for
casual, part-time, temporary and seasonal
workers performing substantially the same
work as full time employees for the same
employer and it would require employers
to provide a written explanation to the
employee who expresses that they are
not receiving wage parity as compared
to full-time employees and the employer
disagrees.
Currently, the ESA prohibits an employer
from paying an employee of one sex at a
rate of pay less than the rate paid to an
employee of the other sex if they perform
substantially the same kind of work, their
performance requires substantially the
same skill, effort and responsibility and their
work is performed under similar working
conditions.
There would be exceptions to the
requirement for equal wages where a wage
difference is based on:
• Seniority system
• Merit system
• Systems that determine pay by quantity
or quality of production
• Other factors (sex and employment
status do not qualify as exceptions to this
requirement)
The new legislation requires the Minister
of Labour to start a review of equal pay Eligible employees have the right to after starting the leave). It does not have to
provisions for casual, part-time, temporary take up to 10 days of job-protected leave be in writing.
and seasonal employees by April 1, 2021. each calendar year. The first two days of the
leave in each calendar year are paid if the Can an employer ask for proof that an
Will seniority systems that provide for employee has been employed for one week employee is allowed to take the leave?
different rates of pay for casual, part-time, or longer. The rest is unpaid. Employers can require an employee who
temporary and seasonal workers based on takes personal emergency leave to provide
the accumulated number of hours worked Does an employee need to tell their employer evidence reasonable in the circumstances
be an exception to the equal pay provisions? if they are taking the leave? that the employee was entitled to the
Yes. Employers are able to use seniority Yes. The employee needs to let the leave. However, employers cannot require
systems that are based on accumulated employer know before they start the leave employees to provide a note from a
hours to support pay differentials. (or, if this is not feasible, as soon as possible physician, registered nurse or psychologist.
www.lbmao.on.ca LBMAO Reporter -January-February 2018 25