On November 23, 2000, the Ontario Provincial Government introduced Bill 147, the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the "new Act"), which was proclaimed into law effective September 4th 2001.

Part X Employment Standards Act: Public holiday pay

a. 24. (1) An employee's public holiday pay for a given public holiday shall be equal to, (a) the total amount of regular wages and vacation pay payable to the employee in the four work weeks before the work week in which the public holiday occurred, divided by 20; or (b) if some other manner of calculation is prescribed, the amount determined using that manner of calculation. 2000,

b. Exemptions and Special Rules? Ontario Regulation 285/01
Special Rules re: Employees Who May Elect to Work or Not

Section. 9 (k) of the regulations to the Act states that Part X of the Act does not apply: "to a person who is employed under an arrangement whereby he or she may elect to work or not when requested to do so."

c. There is no entitlement to a paid public holiday where an employee has an arrangement where he or she may elect to work or not when requested to do so. All employees working through a temporary service are classified as "elect to work" employees.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act places a general duty on employers to "take every precaution reasonable under the circumstances for the protection of the worker" and places more specific duties on employers regarding the maintenance of equipment and the training/instruction and supervision of workers. Ministry of Labour stresses competency as the main factor. Section 51 of Regulation 851 has two requirements for competency that relate to powered lift trucks. Clause 51(2)(a) requires the truck operator to be a competent person and, under clause 51(1)(b), the examination of the lift truck's load-handling capability is to be carried out by a competent person. The regulation does not say specifically how these requirements are to be satisfied. However, there is a definition under the OHS Act, part of which requires a "competent person" to have "knowledge, training, and experience to organize the work and its performance".

Please see: http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/index.html

As ABL is not the on-site supervisor of the employees, we have outlined obligations in the due diligence form which includes the following:

ABL Employment' Responsibility

Client Company' Responsibility

HRDC provides the following information. Note that annual trends in classified ads and unemployment rates generally reveal that in January to March there is a larger supply of qualified workers available as fewer companies are hiring. In September to early November, most sectors are busy and, with the student labour pool unavailable, there is a smaller supply of qualified workers.

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/on/offices/lmb.shtml