Bill 146 explained in plain English
Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act, 2014
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th 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 Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act, 2013 amends various Ontario employment and labour laws to enhance worker protections and regulate temporary employment agencies.
This Act, titled the Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act, 2013, amends several Ontario laws related to employment and labour. It aims to strengthen workplace protections and improve economic conditions. Key changes include expanding protections for foreign nationals, introducing new record-keeping and liability rules for temporary help agencies and their clients, empowering employment standards officers to require employer self-audits, removing a cap on wage recovery orders, and extending the time limit for wage recovery claims. It also modifies rules regarding union certification and decertification in the construction industry and updates the definition of 'worker' under health and safety legislation.
- Amends the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009 to expand its application to all foreign nationals working or seeking work in Ontario, not just live-in caregivers.
- Amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to require employers to provide employees with information posters, introduce new record-keeping and liability rules for temporary help agencies and their clients, and give employment standards officers new powers to order employer self-audits.
- Amends the Labour Relations Act, 1995 to change the timelines for applying for union certification and decertification in the construction industry.
- Amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to update the definition of 'worker'.
- Amends the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to define 'temporary help agency' and to clarify employer responsibility for injuries sustained by workers lent out by these agencies.
- Removes the $10,000 cap on orders for unpaid wages made by employment standards officers.
- Extends the time limit for employees to recover unpaid wages from six months to two years.
- Introduces new provisions for temporary help agencies and their clients regarding joint liability for unpaid wages.
- Foreign nationals employed or seeking employment in Ontario.
- Employers of foreign nationals.
- Recruiters involved in the employment of foreign nationals.
- Employers in Ontario.
- Employees in Ontario.
- Temporary help agencies.
- Clients of temporary help agencies.
- Assignment employees of temporary help agencies.
- Trade unions in the construction industry.
- Employees in the construction industry.
- Employment standards officers.
- The Director of Employment Standards.
- Workers covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- Employers and workers covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.
- Employers must provide employees with copies of information posters.
- Temporary help agencies and their clients must keep records of hours worked by assignment employees.
- Temporary help agencies and their clients are jointly and severally liable for unpaid wages owed to assignment employees.
- Employment standards officers can require employers to conduct self-audits of their compliance.
- The cap on orders for unpaid wages has been removed.
- The time limit for recovering wages has been extended to two years.
- The scope of the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act has been broadened.
- New timelines for union certification and decertification applications in the construction industry are established.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent, with specific provisions coming into force on dates set by proclamation or at later specified times.
- Schedule 1 comes into force on the first anniversary of the Act receiving Royal Assent.
- Schedule 2, sections 2 and 3, comes into force on the first anniversary of the Act receiving Royal Assent.
- Schedule 2, subsection 5 (2), comes into force on the second anniversary of the day subsection 5 (1) of Schedule 2 comes into force.
- Schedule 2, subsection 6 (6), comes into force on the second anniversary of the day subsection 6 (4) of Schedule 2 comes into force.
- Schedule 2, sections 1 and 7(1), come into force six months after the Act receives Royal Assent.
- Schedule 3 comes into force six months after the Act receives Royal Assent.
- Schedule 4 comes into force on the day the Act receives Royal Assent.
- Schedule 5 comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- The removal of the $10,000 cap on wage recovery orders could lead to larger orders for unpaid wages.
- The Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 amendments may lead to adjustments in premiums for employers who use temporary help agencies, based on injury frequency and accident costs.
- Employment standards officers can issue orders for unpaid wages, and the limit on these orders has been removed.
- Temporary help agencies and their clients are jointly and severally liable for unpaid wages.
- New powers are given to employment standards officers to require employers to conduct self-audits.
- The specific 'prescribed costs' that employers can recover from foreign nationals, and the 'prescribed notice requirements' for employment termination are not detailed in the bill text.
- The exact 'categories of foreign nationals' for whom different documents may be prepared by the Director of Employment Standards is not specified.
- The precise implementation dates for some provisions are dependent on proclamation or specific anniversaries.
- The exact amount an employer might pay for failing to comply with certain notification requirements under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 is described as 'prescribed'.
Changes the scope of the Act to apply to all foreign nationals working or seeking work in Ontario, not just live-in caregivers. It also updates requirements for employers and recruiters to provide information to foreign nationals and allows for the recovery of certain prescribed costs from foreign nationals.
Source: Schedule 1
Requires employers to provide employees with information posters, introduces record-keeping obligations and joint liability for temporary help agencies and their clients for unpaid wages, and grants employment standards officers the power to require employers to conduct self-audits of their compliance with the Act. It also removes the $10,000 limit on wage recovery orders and extends the time limit for recovering wages to two years.
Source: Schedule 2
Modifies the time periods during which trade unions can apply for certification and during which employees can apply to have a trade union decertified in the construction industry.
Source: Schedule 3
Updates the definition of 'worker' in the Act.
Source: Schedule 4
Defines 'temporary help agency' and establishes that the client of a temporary help agency is responsible for injuries sustained by a worker lent to them, including premium adjustments and notification requirements.
Source: Schedule 5
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 is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
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