As part of Ontario's Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, the minimum wage will increase again to $15 an hour on January 1, 2019, to be followed by annual increases at the rate of inflation.
Other provisions of the new provincial legislation that come into effect on January 1, 2018, include:
- Ensuring workers are entitled to at least three weeks' vacation after five years with the same employer, bringing Ontario's vacation time in line with the national average.
- Expanding the 10 days per calendar year for personal emergency leave to employees in workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, with at least two paid days per year for employees who have been employed for at least a week
- A new domestic or sexual violence leave of up to 10 individual days and up to 15 weeks of job protected leave; the first five days of leave in every calendar year would be paid
- Increased family medical leave from 8 to 28 weeks per year
- A new child death leave from any cause up to 104 weeks, and increased crime-related disappearance of a child leave from 52 to 104 weeks, and
- Changes to make forming a union and reaching a first collective agreement easier
Source: Government of Ontario