Bill 30, Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025
Chamber
ontario
Stage
Introduced
Ontario's Working for Workers Seven Act updates employment, workplace safety, and immigration laws to better protect and support workers.
Key Changes
- Online job posting platforms must have a visible reporting system and written policy for fraudulent job postings
- Employees receiving layoff notices in groups of 50 or more are entitled to three unpaid days off to search for new work
- Employers and non-unionized employees can agree to extended layoffs (35+ weeks up to just under 52 weeks in 78 weeks) with government Director approval
- New administrative penalty system created under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, allowing fines without court proceedings
- Employers required to have workplace defibrillators can be reimbursed for the cost by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
- Fines for employers convicted of multiple counts of the same workplace insurance offence in one proceeding can reach up to $750,000 per conviction
Gotchas
- The extended layoff provision only applies to non-unionized employees; workers represented by a trade union are explicitly excluded.
- Once an employee agrees to an extended layoff, they cannot withdraw that agreement, which limits their ability to later claim termination pay during the agreed period.
- The defibrillator reimbursement provision includes a clause that it will later be repealed on a date set by the government, suggesting it is intended as a temporary or transitional measure.
- Employers who pay an administrative penalty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act cannot then be charged with a criminal offence for the same violation, creating a trade-off between administrative and criminal enforcement.
- Training facility developments funded by the provincial Ministry of Labour are exempt from normal municipal planning rules (except in the Greenbelt), which reduces local government oversight over where and how these facilities are built.
- Job posting platform fraud reporting rules cannot be enforced through individual employee complaints — only the government can investigate violations, limiting direct recourse for affected job seekers.
Who's Affected
- Ontario workers facing layoffs or terminations
- Online job posting platform operators (e.g., job boards)
- Employers subject to occupational health and safety rules
- Non-unionized employees (extended layoff provisions do not apply to unionized workers)
- Municipalities and the City of Toronto (reduced zoning authority over provincially funded training facilities)
- Employers registered with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
- Immigration applicants and inspectors under the Ontario Immigration Act
Vibes
0 responses
Gotchas
- The extended layoff provision only applies to non-unionized employees; workers represented by a trade union are explicitly excluded.
- Once an employee agrees to an extended layoff, they cannot withdraw that agreement, which limits their ability to later claim termination pay during the agreed period.
- The defibrillator reimbursement provision includes a clause that it will later be repealed on a date set by the government, suggesting it is intended as a temporary or transitional measure.
- Employers who pay an administrative penalty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act cannot then be charged with a criminal offence for the same violation, creating a trade-off between administrative and criminal enforcement.
- Training facility developments funded by the provincial Ministry of Labour are exempt from normal municipal planning rules (except in the Greenbelt), which reduces local government oversight over where and how these facilities are built.
- Job posting platform fraud reporting rules cannot be enforced through individual employee complaints — only the government can investigate violations, limiting direct recourse for affected job seekers.
Summary
Bill 30, the Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025, is an Ontario law that makes changes to several existing provincial laws related to employment, workplace safety, and immigration. It introduces new protections for job seekers, including a requirement for online job posting platforms to have systems to report fake job postings, and gives workers who are being laid off in large groups up to three unpaid days off to look for new work. It also creates new rules around extended layoffs, allowing employers and employees to agree to longer layoffs (up to about a year) with government approval, rather than the layoff automatically being treated as a termination. The bill also strengthens workplace safety rules by introducing administrative fines (penalties without going to court) for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, requiring accredited safety management systems to be treated as equivalent to one another, and reimbursing employers for the cost of workplace defibrillators. On the workers' compensation side, it increases penalties for employers who lie to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board or fail to pay premiums, with fines up to $750,000 per conviction in some cases. Additionally, the bill makes it easier for the provincial government to override municipal zoning rules when building or renovating facilities used for job training and skills development that are provincially funded. It also gives immigration inspectors the power to conduct in-person interviews separately from other people during inspections.
Automatically generated from bill text using Claude
Vibes
0 responses