Written by Sara G. Parchello and Talia K. Bregman

In addition to significant changes to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) starting to take effect under Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, the Ontario Minister of Labour released version 7.0 of the Employment Standards Poster earlier this month. This one-page poster highlights certain rights and obligations of provincially-regulated employees and employers in Ontario under the ESA, including minimum wage rates, hours of work and statutory leaves.

What You Need to Do

Employers with operations in Ontario need to:

• Immediately post a hardcopy of version 7.0, in English, in at least one conspicuous place in the workplace, such as a communal kitchen. If the majority language of a workplace is not English and the Minister has published version 7.0 in that majority language, an employer must also post a hardcopy of the applicable translation next to the English version. Version 7.0 is currently available in these translations: French, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Hindi, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai and Urdu.
• Hand-out a hardcopy or electronic copy of the poster to each current Ontario employee.
• Ensure new hires in Ontario receive a copy of the poster within 30 days after hire. One strategy to guarantee compliance with this requirement is to enclose a copy of the poster with a written offer of employment or orientation package.

Also, as a reminder, there are other posting-related requirements for provincially-regulated employers in Ontario to satisfy.

To read about other recent changes to the ESA that are impacting provincially-regulated workplaces in Ontario, please refer to our previous posts:

• Ontario Employers Take Note: Major Changes to Ontario’s Statutory Leaves of Absence Are Already Underway
• Raising the Bottom Line: Bill 148 Changes to Employee Compensation in Ontario
• New “Equal Pay for Equal Work” Provisions in Ontario Limit Ability to Vary Employees’ Pay Based on Employment Status