Bill 181 explained in plain English
Fire Protection and Prevention Amendment Act, 2011
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 181, the Fire Protection and Prevention Amendment Act, 2011, updates the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, to establish a duty of fair representation for firefighters' bargaining agents and to implement mandatory retirement rules for firefighters involved in fire suppression.
This bill amends the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, by adding new provisions related to the duty of fair representation for firefighters' bargaining agents and introducing mandatory retirement provisions for firefighters. It also makes administrative changes to the Act.
- Introduces a duty of fair representation for bargaining agents representing firefighters, meaning they must not act arbitrarily, discriminatorily, or in bad faith when representing firefighters.
- Establishes mechanisms for inquiring into and resolving complaints regarding a breach of the duty of fair representation by bargaining agents.
- Allows for mandatory retirement provisions in collective agreements for firefighters regularly assigned to fire suppression duties, setting the retirement age at 60 or over, with exceptions for reasonable accommodation.
- States that the mandatory retirement provisions apply despite the Human Rights Code.
- Deems that collective agreements without mandatory retirement provisions, or with a retirement age under 60, will include a provision for mandatory retirement at age 60.
- Amends section 57 of the Act to allow for the prescribing of forms for specific legal procedures related to investigations and orders.
- Specifies the commencement dates for different sections of the Act.
- Firefighters who are members of bargaining units represented by bargaining agents.
- Bargaining agents for firefighters.
- Firefighters who are regularly assigned to fire suppression duties.
- Employers of firefighters.
- The Ontario Labour Relations Board (referred to as 'the Board').
- The Superior Court of Justice.
- Firefighters have a right to be represented fairly by their bargaining agent, without arbitrary, discriminatory, or bad faith conduct (Section 46.1(1)).
- Bargaining agents have a duty to represent firefighters fairly (Section 46.1(1)).
- Firefighters regularly assigned to fire suppression duties may be required to retire at a specified age of 60 or over as per their collective agreement, unless accommodation is possible without undue hardship (Section 53.1(2) and (4)).
- Collective agreements are deemed to contain a mandatory retirement provision at age 60 if they lack one or set it below 60 (Section 3, amending 53.1(3.1)).
- The Act received Royal Assent on June 1, 2011.
- Sections 1 and 4 of the Act (related to the duty of fair representation and administrative changes) come into force on December 1, 2011 (Section 5(2)).
- Section 2 of the Act (adding the initial mandatory retirement provision) comes into force on the second anniversary of the day the Act receives Royal Assent (Section 5(3)). This means it came into force on June 1, 2013.
- Section 3 of the Act (adding the deemed mandatory retirement provision) comes into force on the second anniversary of the day the Act receives Royal Assent (Section 5(3)). This means it came into force on June 1, 2013.
- Section 46.1 of the Act (duty of fair representation) does not apply to conduct or events that occurred before December 1, 2011 (Section 46.1(2)).
- The Board may order compensation for loss of earnings or employment benefits against a bargaining agent or employer in cases of contravention of the duty of fair representation (Section 46.2(5)(c) and (d)).
- Costs associated with accommodation for firefighters may be considered in relation to mandatory retirement (Section 53.1(4)).
- Complaints regarding a breach of the duty of fair representation can be inquired into by a labour relations officer or the Ontario Labour Relations Board (Section 46.2).
- The Board can issue remedies for contraventions, including cessation of the act, rectification, compensation, or reinstatement (Section 46.2(5)).
- Determinations and orders from the Board can be filed with and enforced by the Superior Court of Justice (Sections 46.2(6), 46.4(8), 46.5).
- The Board can make interim orders concerning procedural matters, but not orders for reinstatement of a firefighter (Sections 46.3(2), 46.4(5)).
- The bill does not specify the exact age range for 'specified age' in mandatory retirement provisions, other than it must be 60 or over, nor does it define 'undue hardship' for accommodation.
- The specific 'forms' to be prescribed under section 57 are not detailed in the bill.
- The bill text is primarily in English with a French translation; details may be clearer when consulting both versions or the full Act.
Adds new sections (46.1 to 46.5) concerning the duty of fair representation for firefighters' bargaining agents and mandatory retirement for firefighters (section 53.1), and amends section 57.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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