Fifth Working for Workers Act receives Royal Assent

TORONTO — Ontario’s fifth Working for Workers Act has received Royal Assent

The legislative and regulatory changes in the Working for Workers Five package will:

Encourage and enable more women to start a career in the trades by requiring menstrual products be made available on larger construction sites, cracking down on virtual harassment and requiring all workplaces to have clean and sanitary washrooms and records of cleaning.

Crack down on bad actor employers by increasing the maximum fines that can be issued to individuals convicted of violating the Employment Standards Act.

Improve fairness for jobseekers and employees by requiring employers to disclose whether a vacancy truly exists in publicly advertised job postings and respond to interviewees within a specified period.
Support frontline workers by implementing the lowest required duration of service in Canada for firefighters, investigators and volunteers to be eligible for presumptive WSIB coverage for primary-site skin cancer, from 20 years to 10 years, and ensuring wildland firefighters and wildland fire investigators have the same coverage for occupational cancers, heart injuries and PTSD as municipal firefighters do.

Put patients before paperwork by prohibiting sick notes as evidence of entitlement to the three job-protected unpaid sick-leave days.

These changes expand on measures included in the government’s four previous Working for Workers Acts since 2021.

“With our fifth Working for Workers Act now law, our government continues to lead Canada by strengthening supports for frontline heroes, growing Ontario’s workforce, and cutting red tape to help more workers get better training, for better jobs, with bigger paychecks,” said David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, in a statement.