2009-10 Annual Report

• ISSN: 1718-682X
• Issued: June 2010
• Content last reviewed: August 2010
• PDF Version [ 148 Kb / 32 pages | Download Adobe Reader ]

In 2009-10, the Ministry of Labour continued to contribute to the government’s priorities of creating A More Prosperous Ontario, A Healthier Ontario and Poverty Reduction, through safe, fair, and healthy workplaces. The Ministry of Labour helps create and sustain productive relationships between employers and employees and a competitive economy that generates widespread benefits for all Ontarians. In this regard, progress was made toward the ministry’s specific goals of:

• Making workplaces safer and healthier, by focusing proactive inspections on firms with a poor health and safety compliance record. The Ministry of Labour assesses risks by inspecting businesses with high injury rates and associated costs and factors such as the presence of hazards inherent to the activities of the business and the presence of new, young or otherwise vulnerable workers;
• Protecting vulnerable workers and making workplaces fairer through use of proactive employment standards and pay equity inspections, improvements in employment standards claims management, enhanced community outreach to ensure everyone knows their rights and responsibilities; and
• Creating and maintaining a stable labour relations environment through effective delivery of neutral dispute resolution and education services, and a high quality Ontario Labour Relations Board, to foster increased productivity in workplaces.

Creating safe, healthier, fair and stable workplaces increases productivity, protects vulnerable workers and creates a more competitive economy that will attract jobs and investment to Ontario.

Making Workplaces Safer and Healthier

In 2009-10, the ministry made further progress in its enforcement intervention strategy by:

• Achieving a Lost-Time Injury (LTI) rate of 1.7 per 100 workers, exceeding the target of 1.8 per 100 workers.



Lost-Time Injury (LTI) Rate



Data Table: Lost-Time Injury (LTI) Rate

Year	Actual LTI Rate	Target LTI Rate
2003	2.2	1.8
2004	2.1	1.8
2005	2.0	1.8
2006	1.9	1.8
2007	1.8	1.8
2008	1.7	1.8




• Continuing to reduce the number of injuries among young workers.
• Conducting 10 province wide health and safety blitzes in 2009/10 as compared to 7 in 2008/09.
• Conducting over 65,000 field visits, visiting over 31,000 workplaces and issuing over 106,000 orders (as of December 2009); including visiting over 25,430 workplaces proactively and issuing 85,966 orders through the Safe At Work Ontario strategy.

The Ministry of Labour also modernized many components of health and safety regulation by:

• Enforcing the Occupational Health and Safety Act through the Safe At Work Ontario strategy while educating employers and workers about the importance of workplace health and safety. The strategy is designed to strengthen the workplace health and safety culture, thereby decreasing injuries and employer costs, increasing productivity for Ontario’s economy and reducing strain on the health care system. This risk-based, sector-focused approach is based on three pillars: Enforcement, Compliance and Partnership.
• Passing legislation and providing information on how to protect workers from workplace violence and address workplace harassment. Bill 168, Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) 2009, which will come into force on June 15, 2010, will amend Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act to strengthen protection for workers by requiring employers to:
  • Develop workplace violence and workplace harassment policies and programs, and provide information and instruction to workers on the contents of these policies and programs,
  • Assess the risks of workplace violence, and
  • Take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect a worker at risk of physical injury from domestic violence that may occur in the workplace.
• Developing, implementing and posting online sector-specific enforcement plans on an annual basis. The plans feature each sector’s key hazards and health and safety issues specific to workplaces in different economic sectors, outline the enforcement focus for each year and identify planned blitzes.
• Implementing integrated service delivery between the Ministry of Labour, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and Health and Safety Associations to ensure that the correct system partner was engaging the appropriate workplace to address that workplace’s health and safety needs, including employer training to improve awareness of Occupational Health and Safety.
• Making it easier for constructors, employers and individuals engaged in construction projects in Ontario to meet the regulatory compliance requirements through the use of a new and free electronic Notification of Project (e-NOP ) application form that is available on-line.
• Working collaboratively with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, Ontario government ministries, agencies, and the municipal and federal governments to target underground economy activities in the construction industry.
• Working to implement the Single Business Number (SBN) as part of the government’s Open for Business initiative. The SBN will be assigned by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and will be connected to the Ontario Business Directory. This will enable the assignment of a Single Business Number that will be recognized by federal and provincial partners, resulting in faster, smarter, streamlined government-to business services.
• Establishing an Expert Advisory Panel to conduct a comprehensive review of the province’s occupational health and safety and injury prevention system.

Protecting Vulnerable Workers and Making Workplaces Fairer

In 2009-10, the ministry made further progress in enforcing employment standards by:

• Conducting more than 2,245 proactive inspections in high risk workplaces.
• Launching a new toll free telephone hotline (operational April 2009), outreach team, and information fact sheet, which help employees who are part of the federal Live-In Caregiver Program address issues regarding their employment rights. Assistance was provided to over 1,500 callers through the hotline.
• Expanding protection for some of the province's most vulnerable workers with the introduction and implementation of two pieces of legislation:
  1. The Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (Live-in Caregivers and Others), 2009, which came into force March 22, 2010, amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) to:
     • minimize the potential for temporary foreign worker exploitation by employers and third-party agents;
  2. The Employment Standards Amendment Act (Temporary Help Agencies), 2009, which came into force November 6, 2009, aims to:
     • ensure temporary workers are not unfairly prevented from accessing permanent jobs when employers want to hire them from agencies;
     • guarantee employees have proper information about their assignments and rights under the ESA;
     • prohibit temporary help agencies from charging fees to workers; and
     • entitle temporary workers to termination notice (or pay in lieu) and severance pay.

In 2009-10, the ministry supported the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, continued to improve service delivery and increased enforcement by:

• Conducting proactive Employment Standards (ES) inspections and expanding investigations of employers in high risk sectors, who have a history of non-compliance, or who are suspected of being non-compliant;
• Realigning resources to manage and reduce ES claims inventory/case backlogs and transforming the claims management process with the upcoming establishment of a two-year Task Force;
• Providing education and outreach to improve compliance, as well as multi-channel access to information, including provision of multi-language materials;
• Improving claims intake and claims management services through the centralization of claims intake and commencement of a backlog reduction strategy;
• Enhancing information systems to improve e-access and management of claims; reviewing and updating procedures and policies; and developing and implementing data management and reporting processes; and
• Raising the general minimum wage from $6.85 in 2004 to $10.25 as of March 31, 2010, the seventh increase since 2004.

General Minimum Wage

Data Table: General Minimum Wage

Year	Minimum Wage
January 1, 1995	$ 6.85
January 1, 1996	$ 6.85
January 1, 1997	$ 6.85
January 1, 1998	$ 6.85
January 1, 1999	$ 6.85
January 1, 2000	$ 6.85
January 1, 2001	$ 6.85
January 1, 2002	$ 6.85
January 1, 2003	$ 6.85
February 1, 2004	$ 6.85
February 1, 2005	$ 7.45
February 1, 2006	$ 7.75
February 1, 2007	$ 8.00
March 31, 2008	$ 8.75
March 31, 2009	$ 9.50
March 31, 2010	$ 10.25

Creating and Maintaining a Stable Labour Relations Environment

In 2009-10, the ministry promoted fair, balanced and productive labour relations in Ontario workplaces by:

• Providing neutral dispute resolution services in the negotiation of collective agreements, resulting in the settlement of 1,237 collective agreements and a settlement rate of 96.9 per cent without a strike or lockout (as of December 2009), continuing to surpass the target rate of 95 per cent.

Settlements Without Strike or Lockout

Data Table: Settlements Without Strike or Lockout

Year	Actual	Commitment
2006/07	97.70%	95%
2007/08	98%	95%
2008/09	97.80%	95%
2009/1[Q3]	96.90%	95%

In 2009-10, the ministry continued to provide effective delivery of neutral dispute resolution and education services to the unionized sectors of the province by:

• Working with the construction industry, retail food sector, and broader public sector during a difficult economic period in regard to labour relations best practices.
• Supporting other ministries, the private sector, municipalities and the education and health sectors, by providing mediation and arbitration services, neutral collective bargaining information, and by assisting parties through its Interactive Solutions programs.
• Developing the Construction Industry Joint Advisory Panel to find ways to promote a stable and prosperous construction industry in Ontario.

Table 1: Ministry Interim Actual Expenditures 2009-10

	Ministry Interim Actual Expenditures
Operating	$183.6 M
Capital	$0.1 M
Staff Strenght (as of March 31, 2010)	1,459

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