Bill 92 explained in plain English
Comprehensive Public Sector Compensation Freeze Act, 2012
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th Parliament, 1st 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
This Act imposes a two-year freeze on public sector employee compensation and benefits, with specific exceptions and reporting requirements.
This Act freezes the annual compensation, including pay rates and benefits, for employees in the public sector for two years, starting from the day the Act receives Royal Assent. The freeze applies to all forms of payment, benefits, and perquisites. Exceptions exist, such as allowing pay to increase to the minimum wage if it falls below that level. The Act also states that it overrides any conflicting compensation plans or other laws, but it does not override rights under the Human Rights Code, the Pay Equity Act, or specific sections of the Employment Standards Act, 2000. Employers are required to report on their compliance with this Act. The Lieutenant Governor in Council can make regulations to define how compensation is valued and to specify details related to the Act's implementation.
- It freezes the rate of pay for public sector employees for two years from the date the Act receives Royal Assent.
- It prevents increases to the maximum amounts or steps within pay ranges for public sector employees for two years from the date the Act receives Royal Assent.
- It allows an employee's rate of pay to be increased to the minimum wage if it falls below that level, even during the freeze period.
- It freezes benefits, perquisites, or payments provided to public sector employees under existing compensation plans for two years from the date the Act receives Royal Assent.
- It prohibits new or additional benefits, perquisites, or payments compared to what was authorized under a compensation plan before the Act received Royal Assent, for two years.
- It states that compensation paid in contravention of the pay or benefits freeze is a debt owed to the employer, which can be recovered.
- It specifies that this Act prevails over any compensation plan and any other Act or regulation, with certain exceptions.
- It requires employers to provide compliance reports to the Minister responsible for the Act.
- It allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations regarding the valuation of compensation and other prescribed matters.
- Employees in the public sector in Ontario.
- Public sector employers in Ontario.
- The Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council.
- Public sector employers must comply with the compensation freeze.
- Public sector employers must provide compliance reports to the Minister.
- Public sector employees' rates of pay and benefits are frozen for two years, with limited exceptions.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The compensation freeze lasts for two years from the day the Act receives Royal Assent.
- The Act aims to control costs in the public sector and reduce the provincial deficit and debt.
- Compensation paid in contravention of the Act is considered a debt owed to the employer and can be recovered by any legal means, including offsetting against future unpaid compensation.
- The specific details of the 'prescribed' reports and the 'prescribed' form, manner, and period for submission are not defined in the Act and will be set out in regulations.
- The Act does not define 'public sector', 'employee', or 'employer', but states they have the same meaning as in the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996.
- The Act does not specify how 'compensation' is to be valued for the purpose of the freeze, but allows for regulations to govern this.
- The exact date of Royal Assent is not provided in the bill text.
This Act takes precedence over any compensation plan, other provincial Act, or regulation. However, it does not override specific rights under the Human Rights Code, the Pay Equity Act, or sections 42 or 44 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000. It also does not prevent the application of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 insurance plan to individuals to whom it did not apply when the Act received Royal Assent.
Source: Section 6
The Act allows for an increase in an employee's rate of pay to match the minimum wage if it falls below that level, even during the compensation freeze.
Source: Section 3(3)
This Act does not affect rights or entitlements under the Human Rights Code.
Source: Section 6(3)
This Act does not affect rights or entitlements under the Pay Equity Act.
Source: Section 6(3)
This Act does not prevent the application of the insurance plan under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to individuals to whom it did not apply on the day this Act received Royal Assent.
Source: Section 6(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
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
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.
How this data is sourced