On November 30th, 2021, the Ontario government passed the Working for Workers Act (“Act”).
The Act, which was first introduced back in October, will require employers with 25 or more employees to develop a written disconnecting from work policy. In the Act, “disconnecting from work” is defined as, “not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls or the sending or reviewing of other messages, so as to be free from the performance of work”.
For more details on the new legislation, including the banning of non-compete agreements and mandatory licensing for recruiters and temporary help agencies, please refer to our Alert from November 4th, found here.
Employers will have six months from the date the Act receives Royal Assent (which as the time of writing has not yet happened) to develop the disconnecting from work policy. The banning of non-compete agreements will also become law when the Act receives Royal Assent but will be backdated to October 25, 2021. Lastly, the timing for the licensing requirements has yet to be determined.
Further, as of now, there are no further details on what a disconnecting from work policy should include and therefore we recommend reaching out to us next year to discuss what the policy should look like.
If you have any questions on this new legislation, please do not hesitate to reach out to speak with an e2r™ Advisor.