On April 3, 2019 the Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2019 (“Bill 66”) received Royal Assent.

The most significant change to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) was the removal of the requirement that the Director approve excess hours and overtime averaging agreements. This change means that employers and employees are free to agree on employees’ hours of work and terms of overtime averaging without the Director’s approval (subject to the restrictions set out in section 18 of the ESA which require an employer to give an employee a period of at least 11 consecutive hours free from performing work in each day, and at least 24 consecutive hours free in each work week or 48 consecutive hours free in each two consecutive work weeks).

Bill 66 also repealed sections of the ESA that required employers to post the most recent poster ‎published by the Minister providing information about the ESA (though employers are still required to provide each of their employees with a copy of the poster), and amended the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) to add sections which deem a number of employers “non-construction employers” for the purposes of the LRA.

For more information, please contact a member of the Ontario Labour & Employment Law group in DLA Piper Canada’s Toronto office.

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