Summary#

Bill 27, the Working for Workers Act, 2021, amends six Ontario laws; it does not create one new program or agency. Its stated goal, as described by its long title, is to make changes concerning employment, labour and other matters. It received Royal Assent and became Chapter 35 of Ontario’s 2021 statutes, but some changes require a later proclamation to take effect.

• Employers with 25 or more employees must have a written policy on disconnecting from work. The bill does not require employers to stop after-hours communications or give workers a general right to ignore them.
• Employers generally cannot make non-compete agreements with employees. Exceptions apply to certain executives and to some business sales where the seller becomes the purchaser’s employee.
• Temporary help agencies and recruiters must be licensed. The Director of Employment Standards handles licences, and the Ontario Labour Relations Board can review refusals, suspensions and revocations.
• Recruiters face stronger rules about fees charged to foreign nationals, record-keeping and reprisals against prospective employees. Recruiters who use another recruiter may share liability for repayment of prohibited fees.
• Regulated professions generally cannot require Canadian work experience for registration, unless the Minister grants an exemption for public health and safety. The bill also addresses language tests and access support for internationally trained people.
• The bill gives the agriculture minister powers to collect some personal information for specified purposes, requires washroom access for delivery workers subject to exceptions, and allows or requires some surplus Workplace Safety and Insurance Board fund distributions to Schedule 1 employers.

What it means for you#

• Employees: If your employer had at least 25 employees on January 1, it must have a written disconnecting-from-work policy for all employees. It must give you a copy within 30 days of preparing or changing it, and keep copies for three years after it stops applying.
• Employees and job applicants: Most non-compete agreements with an employer are prohibited and void. The bill does not prohibit other kinds of agreements, such as non-solicitation agreements.
• Temporary agency workers, job seekers and employers: Agencies and recruiters must hold the relevant licence. Clients, employers and prospective employers must not knowingly use unlicensed services. Recruiters must keep specified records, and prospective employees are protected from certain reprisals.
• Foreign nationals recruited for work: Recruiters and employers must not knowingly use a recruiter who has charged a prohibited fee. A recruiter using another recruiter, and that recruiter’s corporate directors, may be jointly responsible for repaying such fees.
• People applying to regulated professions: Canadian experience generally cannot be required unless an exemption is granted. The bill does not itself set the detailed language-testing rules.
• Delivery workers: A workplace owner must provide washroom access on request, unless an exception applies, including certain safety, practical or dwelling-related circumstances.
• Taxpayers and employers: The agriculture minister may collect personal information for listed purposes, subject to limits. Schedule 1 employers may receive WSIB fund distributions; the Board can vary amounts or exclude an employer under the bill’s criteria.
• Current law: The source material does not include the full Acts being amended, so I could not verify how each change compares with current law.

Money#

No publicly available information on the bill’s total public cost.

• The bill allows the Minister to make grants to support internationally trained people’s access to regulated professions; it does not require a grant or give an amount.
• Licensing fees and security payments for agencies and recruiters can be set by regulation. The amounts are not in the supplied material.
• WSIB fund distributions may send surplus amounts to Schedule 1 employers. The Board may vary or withhold distributions under the bill’s rules.
• No cost estimates for government staffing, administration or enforcement are provided.

What is unclear#

• Some provisions take effect only on a date set by proclamation. The supplied material does not give those dates.
• Regulations may set licensing requirements, fees, security, licence conditions and processes. Those details are not included.
• The bill leaves “recruiter” and “Canadian experience” to be defined in regulations.
• The required contents of disconnecting-from-work policies may be prescribed later. The bill does not set a minimum after-hours limit.
• The agriculture minister’s information-gathering powers include future purposes that may be prescribed. The supplied material does not say what those purposes will be.
• WSIB distribution criteria, timing and some thresholds depend on regulations. The bill also bars reconsideration or appeal of the Board’s distribution determinations.

Case for#

• The bill could make it harder for recruiters to charge foreign nationals prohibited fees and gives a route to seek repayment from recruiters that used other recruiters.
• Written disconnecting policies could make employers state their expectations about work-related messages outside working time, while leaving employers flexibility to set their own policies.
• Banning most non-compete agreements could make it easier for workers to take competing jobs after leaving an employer.
• Removing Canadian-experience requirements, with a public-health-and-safety exception, could reduce a barrier for internationally trained applicants.
• Licensing and public records could help make agencies and recruiters more accountable.

Case against#

• The disconnecting policy requirement does not itself limit after-hours work or give workers a right to refuse work-related communications. Its practical effect depends on policy contents set by employers and any later regulations.
• Licensing fees, security requirements and other rules are left to regulations, so the bill does not show what agencies and recruiters will have to pay or do.
• The bill gives the agriculture minister broad information powers, including collection of personal information. Although it sets limits, the purposes may be expanded by regulation.
• WSIB distributions can vary or be withheld based on criteria that are not fully set in the bill, and employers cannot appeal the Board’s determinations.
• Some protections depend on regulations and later start dates, so the bill alone does not show when all the changes would apply or exactly how they would work.