The provincial Ministry of Labour has opened consultations on the Employment Standards Act and will be taking email submissions from stakeholders and the public until March 31, 2019. The B.C Law Institute recently completed its Employment Standards Review Project, which included a public consultation process and a final report containing a set of recommendations. Based on this work and the current consultation process, the Ministry intends to make changes to the act as early as this Spring.
The Ministry’s consultation paper outlines the six themes that are the government’s initial areas of focus:
- Theme 1 – Increasing protection of child workers
- Theme 2 – Transforming the Employment Standards Branch
- Theme 3 – Supporting families through difficult times with job-protected leaves of absence
- Theme 4 – Strengthening workers’ ability to recover wages/monies owed
- Theme 5 – Clarifying hours of work and overtime standards
- Theme 6 – Improving fairness for terminated workers
If there are any questions or concerns relating to the Employment Standards Act or proposed changes, please contact Andrea Raso, Employment & Labour, Chair, araso@cwilson.com.
For the Ministry’s Consultation Paper, click here.
Additional details are available on the Ministry’s site, here.
