Bill 76 explained in plain English
Respecting Workers in Health Care and in Related Fields Act, 2023
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd 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
The Respecting Workers in Health Care and in Related Fields Act, 2023, requires the Ontario Minister of Labour to implement measures to improve working conditions and job security for personal support workers, homemakers, and other health care workers.
Bill 76, the Respecting Workers in Health Care and in Related Fields Act, 2023, aims to improve working conditions for certain health care and related field workers in Ontario. It requires the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (or another assigned minister) to take steps to ensure specific employment standards are met. These include requirements for permanent, full-time employment, increased wages and benefits for personal support workers, and the application of certain employment standards to homemakers. The Act is set to come into force one year after receiving Royal Assent.
- Requires the Minister to ensure that at least 70 per cent of individuals employed by hospitals, long-term care homes, home care agencies, or health care providers are permanent and full-time, if they employ more than 20 individuals.
- Requires the Minister to ensure personal support workers receive at least $8.00 more than the minimum wage per hour, along with health benefits, pension plan membership, and paid sick leave (10 days for full-time, pro-rated for part-time).
- Requires the Minister to ensure homemakers are paid at least minimum wage per hour and that provisions on hours of work, eating periods, and overtime pay from the Employment Standards Act, 2000, apply to them.
- Specifies that the Act will come into force one year after it receives Royal Assent.
- Hospitals
- Long-term care homes
- Home care agencies
- Health care providers (members of a College under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, acting within their scope of practice)
- Individuals employed by these entities
- Personal support workers
- Homemakers (employed by someone other than the householder to perform homemaking services in a private residence)
- The Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (or the minister assigned responsibility for the Act)
- Hospitals, long-term care homes, home care agencies, and health care providers employing more than 20 individuals must ensure at least 70 per cent of their employees are permanent and full-time.
- Personal support workers are entitled to be paid at least $8.00 more than the minimum wage per hour.
- Personal support workers are entitled to health benefits and membership in a pension plan.
- Personal support workers are entitled to paid sick leave: 10 days per year for full-time workers, and a pro-rated amount for part-time workers based on hours worked.
- Homemakers are entitled to be paid at least the minimum wage per hour.
- Homemakers are entitled to have Parts VII (Hours of Work and Eating Periods) and VIII (Overtime Pay) of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 apply to their employment.
- The Act comes into force one year after it receives Royal Assent.
- The Minister is required to 'take all necessary steps' to ensure compliance, which may include introducing legislation. The specific mechanisms for enforcement or penalties are not detailed in the provided text.
- The exact number of paid sick leave days for part-time personal support workers is described as 'a certain number of days... pro-rated' but the specific calculation method is not detailed in the provided text.
- The bill text does not specify the penalties for non-compliance by employers or the Minister's actions if compliance is not met.
- The bill does not detail how 'health benefits' for personal support workers are defined or mandated.
- The bill does not specify the minimum employer contribution to pension plans for personal support workers.
- The bill requires the Minister to 'take all necessary steps, including introducing legislation if necessary,' but does not outline the specific process or timeline for the Minister to take these steps, nor does it specify what those steps might be beyond the general requirements.
Parts VII (Hours of Work and Eating Periods) and VIII (Overtime Pay) will apply to homemakers as defined in this Act.
Source: Section 5(1)(b)
The term 'minimum wage' will have the same meaning as in the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
Source: Section 2(1)
A 'health care provider' is defined as a member of a College under this Act, acting within their scope of practice.
Source: Section 2(2)
Responsibility for administering this Act may be assigned or transferred under this Act.
Source: Section 2(1)
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