Turn off notifications and turn off your phone: In favor of work-life balance, Ontario has a new law that gives employees the right to ignore work emails, messages, and after-hours calls.
As of June 2, employers in Ontario with 25 or more employees must have a written policy to disconnect outside of business hours. The so-called “disconnection” rule was part of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Workers’ Work Act, passed in late 2021. It is the first law of its kind in Canada.
“Disconnection” means not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, phone calls, video calls or sending or viewing other messages, so that you are exempt from work, “explains the 2021 legislation. .
Ontario Labor Secretary Monte McNaughton told CTV News earlier that the law “was created in response to the increasingly blurred boundaries between work and home” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new Ontario rules apply to all employees, including managers and executives. The company’s policies should clearly outline expectations, if any, regarding communication outside working hours. All employers in Ontario with 25 or more employees on January 1, 2022 must have a written policy from June 2. Employers with 25 or more employees by January 1, 2023 must enter into force by March of that year.
From 2023, all employers with 25 or more employees must have a policy in place by March of that year.
Ontario is the only province with the right to exclude the law. Quebec and the federal government have also studied the idea, but have not yet enacted legislation. Such laws were first introduced in France and have since been passed by only a handful of countries, including Italy and Slovakia.
However, critics say Ontario’s legislation is insufficient and does not meet what many workers actually want.
“What they really need to look at is flexibility in the workplace,” Brian Smale, a professor in the Department of Leisure and Entertainment at the University of Waterloo, told CTV News. “As they perform their tasks, it gives them more flexibility; it gives them a better work-life balance and improves their well-being. “
The law has also been criticized for being impractical and short in key details such as law enforcement and sanctions. However, advocates of mental health say rules like this are a step in the right direction to maintain work-life balance and exclusion from the digital world.
“This allows those who may have a difficult time, or have a toxic workplace, or a difficult workplace, to have something in their toolbox to initiate and support them,” said Vancouver psychiatrist Dr. Shimi Kang. in front of CTV News.
After five years in the insurance industry, Stacey Tang left to start her own graphic design business for better working hours and the opportunity to quit.
“Sometimes I understand it [notification] after work and I just get anxious just hearing it, “Tang told CTV News in Toronto.” It’s so hard to turn off these days, especially when technology is so affordable, and then your boss knows you have access to the system after work. “
Under Ontario law, non-compliance with the new rules may be applicable under the Provincial Employment Standards Act.
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