XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

JS-15

The Employment Standards Enforcement Gap in Ontario (Joint Session with RC44 Labour Movements)

RC44 Labor Movements (host committee)
RC02 Economy and Society

Language: English

In Ontario the Employment Standards Act (ESA) establishes minimum terms and conditions in areas such as wages, working time, vacations and leaves, and termination and severance of employment. For the majority of Ontario workers who are not unionized, the ESA along with the Ontario Health and Safety Act, is a key source of formal workplace protection. Yet, as a report on labour law recently released by the Ontario Ministry of Labour notes, “…there is a serious problem with enforcement of ESA provisions... there are too many people in too many workplaces who do not receive their basic rights” (Ministry of Labour 2016: 260). This assessment echoes the findings of a growing body of cross-national scholarship that documents how traditional employment standards enforcement models are not keeping pace with changing workplace practices. Drawing on findings of a long-term multi-disciplinary study of employment standards enforcement, the four papers that comprise this regular session probe different dimensions of the ESA enforcement gap in Ontario, addressing themes such as the paucity of strong deterrent measures in the Government of Ontario’s enforcement system; the effectiveness and limitations of proactive and targeted enforcement practices, and the difficulties that the Ministry of Labour faces in recovering employees’ back wages. Each paper also considers alternative approaches that stand to improve employees’ access to labour market protections.