|
Yesterday, Ontario's Ministry of Labour announced it will undertake a review of the recently amended public holiday pay provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA).
As a result of Ontario's Bill 148, the formula for the calculation of public holiday pay in the ESA was amended effective January 1, 2018.
The amended formula considered the regular earnings in the pay period immediately preceding the public holiday, and divided the earnings by the number of days the employee actually worked in the period.
Unfortunately for many businesses, the change in public holiday pay required businesses to pay a substantial amount for casual workers who may have only worked once in the previous pay period.
Given these issues, the Ministry has now announced their intentions to repeal this payment calculation method and,
in the interim, has enacted Ontario Regulation 375/18, which reverts to the original pre-Bill 148 calculation method.
Using this method,
an employee's public holiday pay is equal to the total amount of regular wages earned in the four work weeks before the public holiday occurred, divided by 20.
This new regulation comes into force on July 1, 2018, in time for the Canada Day holiday.
As they review the public holiday pay provisions, the government has invited feedback. Submissions can be sent to [email protected].
If you have any questions regarding this or any other advocacy matter,
please contact Ryan Eickmeier, Vice President, Government Relations & Public Policy at
[email protected]
or by phone at 416-695-2896 ext. 297.
|
