Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 14, Employment Standards Act, be read for the second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill replaces the Labour Standards Act, the Employment Agencies Act and the Wages Recovery Act with a single statute.
The bill applies to all employers and employees, subject to certain exceptions, and restricts the circumstances in which persons 16 years of age or younger may be employed.
The bill fixes the standard and the maximum hours of work in a day and in a week, subject to certain exceptions, and provides entitlements to overtime pay, vacation pay and holiday pay, as well as to unpaid pregnancy leave, parental leave, sick leave, compassionate leave, bereavement leave and court leave. The minimum wage would be prescribed by regulation.
An employment standards officer would have primary responsibility for enforcing employment standards and would be empowered to hear complaints and to make orders, including orders to compensate or reinstate an employee. The bill also provides for the appointment of adjudicators to hear appeals under the act.
Employers would be required to maintain employment records and to provide advance notice of termination to affected employees and their trade union, if any, where the employment of large numbers of employees is terminated.
The bill provides for enforcement and establishes offences and penalties for contraventions of the act or regulations or of orders made under the act. Orders for wages are deemed to have special priority in relation to other security interests filed under the Personal Property Security Act and the Land Titles Act.
The bill authorizes the making of various regulations, including regulations implementing the act and regulations providing for licensing of employment agencies.
The Apprenticeship, Trade and Occupations Certification Act, the Financial Administration Act, the Interpretation Act and the Seizures Act are consequentially amended, and the Employment Agencies Act, Labour Standards Act and Wages Recovery Act are repealed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
