Ontario government proposes new rules for remote employee layoffs

Ontario: The Ontario government has submitted a proposal to update the employment laws. This will provide some relief to the remote employees at the time of termination. If the bill is passed, then any company or agency will have to issue a notice to the employees working from their far-flung places while laying them off.

The proposed changes were announced on Monday. Under this proposal, remote workers will also have to give at least eight weeks’ notice to the company at the time of being fired or implement the one-time salary rule. The same rule is followed by the employees working in their offices during large scale layoffs by the companies.

Introducing the proposal on Monday, Ontario’s Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said in a statement that even if an employee goes to the workplace on a daily basis and is working for a company from a remote place, no billion dollar company can treat its remote employees as second class.

Currently, under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA), if 50 or more employees are laid off by a company over a period of four weeks, the company has to give eight, 12 or 16 weeks’ notice to such employees to do so.

Remote workers are not protected when large-scale layoffs are carried out by a company because there is no such provision under Ontario’s existing labor laws. If this new bill is passed, then remote workers will also get the same protection as in-office workers.