Bill 27 explained in plain English
Working for Workers Act, 2021
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd 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
The Working for Workers Act, 2021, amends various Ontario employment and labour laws, including introducing rules for disconnecting from work, prohibiting non-compete agreements, regulating recruiters and temporary help agencies, and addressing access to regulated professions.
Bill 27, also known as the Working for Workers Act, 2021, amends several Ontario laws related to employment and labour. Key changes include: * **Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009**: Prohibits using recruiters who have charged fees to foreign nationals and makes recruiters and corporate directors liable for repaying such fees. * **Employment Standards Act, 2000**: Requires employers with 25 or more employees to have a written policy on
- Amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to introduce new rules regarding disconnecting from work and non-compete agreements.
- Introduces licensing requirements for temporary help agencies and recruiters under the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
- Amends the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009 to prohibit the use of recruiters who charge fees to foreign nationals and to establish liability for repaying such fees.
- Amends the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act, 2006 to ensure compliance with language proficiency testing and to restrict Canadian experience requirements for registration.
- Amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to require workplace owners to provide washroom access to delivery personnel.
- Amends the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Act to expand the Minister's review and policy-setting functions.
- Amends the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 concerning the insurance fund and distribution of surplus amounts.
- Introduces provisions for the collection and use of information by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
- Employers in Ontario (especially those with 25 or more employees)
- Employees in Ontario
- Temporary help agencies
- Recruiters
- Foreign nationals seeking employment in Ontario
- Regulated professions and their regulatory bodies
- Internationally trained individuals seeking registration in regulated professions
- Owners of workplaces
- Workers making deliveries to or from workplaces
- Schedule 1 employers under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997
- The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
- The Fairness Commissioner and staff in the Office of the Fairness Commissioner
- The Director of Employment Standards
- Employers must establish and provide a written policy on disconnecting from work if they employ 25 or more employees.
- Employers are prohibited from entering into employment contracts containing non-compete agreements, with specific exceptions.
- Temporary help agencies and recruiters must obtain a licence to operate.
- Clients and employers are prohibited from knowingly engaging or using unlicensed temporary help agencies or recruiters.
- Recruiters are prohibited from charging fees to foreign nationals.
- Recruiters and corporate directors are liable to repay fees improperly charged to foreign nationals.
- Regulated professions must comply with regulations regarding language proficiency and cannot require Canadian experience unless exempted.
- Workplace owners must provide washroom access to delivery personnel, subject to reasonableness and safety considerations.
- Recruiters are prohibited from retaliating against prospective employees for asserting their rights or making inquiries.
- The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is authorized to collect and use information.
- The Act received Royal Assent on December 2, 2021. (Section 2(1))
- Most schedules come into force on the day the Act receives Royal Assent, unless otherwise specified. (Section 2(2))
- Some provisions of Schedule 2 have a transition period, requiring employers to have a disconnecting from work policy by six months after Royal Assent, and to determine employee count based on the January 1 preceding that date.
- Some provisions of Schedule 3 come into force on the later of the day subsection 38 (1) of the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, 2021 comes into force and the day the Working for Workers Act, 2021 receives Royal Assent.
- Section 4 of Schedule 4 is deemed to have come into force on October 25, 2021.
- Some provisions of Schedule 5 come into force on a day named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- Some provisions of Schedule 6 come into force on a day named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- Provisions in the Act that require proclamation may be proclaimed at different times. (Section 2(3))
- Licensing fees may be prescribed for temporary help agencies and recruiters under the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
- Security may be required for licensing, which can be used to satisfy obligations under the Act or the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009.
- The Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 provisions allow for the distribution of surplus funds from the insurance fund to Schedule 1 employers under certain conditions.
- Employment standards officers can make orders for compensation to prospective employees who have experienced reprisal from a recruiter.
- Recruiters and corporate directors can be held jointly and severally liable to repay fees charged to foreign nationals.
- The Director has the authority to refuse, revoke, or suspend licences for temporary help agencies and recruiters for various contraventions.
- The Ontario Labour Relations Board has powers to review decisions regarding licence refusals, revocations, or suspensions.
- Conviction under section 132 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000, for contravening specific sections related to temporary help agencies and recruiters, may result in fines, imprisonment, and court orders for specific actions or inactions to remedy the contravention.
- The specific meaning of 'recruiter' is set out in regulations under the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
- The definition of 'Canadian experience' is prescribed by regulations under the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act, 2006.
- Prescribed information is required for disconnecting from work policies, applications for licences, and various other matters across different Acts, the details of which are not fully specified in the bill text.
- Regulations may be made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council to further govern various aspects of the amendments, including licensing requirements, fees, security, public records, and transitional matters.
- Exceptions to the washroom access requirement under the Occupational Health and Safety Act depend on whether providing access is 'reasonable or practical' under the circumstances.
- The commencement of certain provisions across multiple schedules depends on proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor or the coming into force of other related legislation.
Adds a prohibition against recruiters or employers knowingly using the services of a recruiter who has charged a fee to a foreign national, and establishes joint and several liability for recruiters and directors of corporate recruiters to repay such fees.
Source: SCHEDULE 1
Introduces new requirements for employers with 25 or more employees to have a written policy on disconnecting from work. It also prohibits employers from entering into employment contracts that include non-compete agreements, with certain exceptions. Furthermore, it introduces licensing requirements for temporary help agencies and recruiters, prohibits the use of unlicensed agencies or recruiters, and prohibits recruiters from retaliating against prospective employees.
Source: SCHEDULE 2
Requires regulated professions to comply with regulations on English or French language proficiency testing and prohibits them from requiring Canadian experience for registration unless an exemption is granted. It also outlines how the Minister can support internationally trained individuals seeking registration in regulated professions.
Source: SCHEDULE 3
Expands the Minister's authority to review matters related to agriculture, food, and rural affairs, and to establish policies and provide recommendations to the government. It also authorizes the Minister to collect and use information, including personal information, for specific purposes related to these sectors and public health/safety emergencies.
Source: SCHEDULE 4
Requires the owner of a workplace to provide access to a washroom, upon request, to workers making deliveries to or from the workplace, with certain exceptions related to health, safety, practicality, and security.
Source: SCHEDULE 5
Amends provisions related to the insurance fund, including the distribution of surplus amounts among employers and the conditions under which this can occur. It also modifies the Board's powers regarding agreements for administering Part VII of the Act.
Source: SCHEDULE 6
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