How do Bill 148 amendments to the ESA affect existing collective agreements?

It is hard to imagine a question more pressing for Ontario employers of unionized employees.

For the most part, the Bill 148 amendments to the ESA minimum standards will apply to unionized workplaces as of the effective date of the particular amendment. More specifically, Bill 148 ESA amendments – including with respect to the minimum wage, vacation entitlements, personal emergency leave and the new Domestic and Sexual Violence Leave – will “trump” a collective agreement if:

• the amendment provides a greater right or benefit than the employees are entitled to under the collective agreement;
• the amendment imposes a more onerous obligation on the employer than in the collective agreement; or
• the collective agreement is silent with respect to the Bill 148 obligation or entitlement.

There is only a handful of other specific circumstances in which an existing collective agreement provision may prevail over Bill 148 ESA amendments.

Check out our blog tomorrow to learn how an existing collective agreement provision addressing “equal pay for equal work” may prevail over two of the Bill 148 amendments.