Ontario Introduces Bill 30, the Working For Workers Seven Act, 2025
May 28, 2025
| By
Emily Elder
Employment Standards
|
Occupational Health & Safety
|
Employment
|
Workers' Compensation
Bottom Line
On May 28, 2025, the Ontario government introduced Bill 30, the Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025 (the “Act”), which, among other things, proposes a number of changes to the legislation governing Ontario’s workplaces.
Bill 30
If passed, the Act would make a number of amendments to the Employment Standards Act (ESA), the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA). While not exhaustive, the following are the most significant changes that the Act would make in respect of those pieces of legislation:
- Amending the ESA to:
- require persons who operate job posting platforms to have a mechanism or procedure for users of the platform to report fraudulent publicly advertised job postings to the person operating the job posting platform and to have a written policy with respect to fraudulent publicly advertised job postings;
- add a new leave that would allow employees who receive notice of a mass termination to three (3) days of unpaid leave to do activities related to finding new employment;
- allow for longer lay-offs of 35 or more weeks in a 52-week period in certain circumstances, when both employer and employee agree and the Director approves. The lay-off cannot, however, extend to 52 or more weeks in any 78-week period;
- Amending the OHSA to:
- allow certain employers to be reimbursed for the cost of defibrillators;
- create a scheme for administrative monetary penalties;
- Amending the WSIA to:
- create a new prohibition against an employer from making a false or misleading statement or representation to the WSIB in connection with any person’s claim for benefits under the insurance plan;
- add administrative monetary penalties;
- increase the maximum penalty under the WSIA to $750,000 for persons convicted of two or more counts of the same offence in the same legal proceedings; and
- add aggravating factors to be considered in determining the penalties for employers under the WSIA.
If the Act passes, the above changes would come into force on the date the Act receives Royal Assent (though other of the proposed changes to the ESA and the OHSA may have different effective dates).
Reminder to Employers: New Leave Effective June 19, 2025
Employers may recall that the Working for Workers Six Act, 2024, which received Royal Assent on December 19, 2024, included a new 27-week job-protected leave for employees unable to work because of a serious medical condition. That provision comes into effect on June 19, 2025.
We covered other key dates in 2025 and early 2026 in our previous Insight.
Takeaways
While this Bill has yet to be finalized and passed, employers operating in Ontario should prepare for further changes to the legal landscape governing workplaces.
We will monitor Bill 30 as it proceeds through the legislature and provide further updates.
Need More Information?
For more information or assistance with complying with new workplace-related legislation, contact your regular lawyer at the firm.
Download PDF
