Working for Workers Seven: Ontario's Latest Batch of Workplace Rules

Somewhere in a Queen’s Park filing cabinet, there are now seven separate bills with nearly the same name. The Working for Workers Acts keep arriving like annual reports, each one an omnibus wearing the brand like a uniform, and at this point even the numbering feels like a dare. Bill 30, the seventh instalment, received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025, with key provisions taking effect January 1, 2026: changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, expanded enforcement tools for inspectors, and mandatory defibrillators on construction sites.

To understand what the seventh adds, you need to know what the first six built.

Bills One Through Six: A Quick Recap

The series began with Working for Workers Act, 2021 (Bill 27): right-to-disconnect policy for employers with 25 or more employees, a ban on non-compete agreements for most workers, and initial protections for gig workers. Working for Workers Act, 2022 (Bill 88) followed with requirements for washroom access for delivery drivers and the establishment of the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act framework. Bill 79, the third instalment in 2023, introduced penalties for employers who require Canadian work experience in job postings and expanded workplace protections in several sectors.

Working for Workers Four (Bill 149, 2024) brought the pay transparency and AI hiring disclosure requirements that took effect on January 1, 2026, alongside new rules on job posting vacancy transparency.

The fifth bill expanded sick leave portability and updated employment standards in the temp agency sector. Working for Workers Six (Bill 190, 2024) addressed workplace violence and harassment reporting, added protections for workers in the wildfire and extreme heat contexts, and expanded the definition of workplace injury to include post-traumatic stress disorder for a broader range of first responders.

No single bill overhauled Ontario’s labour framework. But seven bills later, the cumulative effect is real. New categories of worker protection, expanded enforcement, a growing set of employer obligations covering everything from job postings to on-site medical equipment. Death by a thousand small improvements, if you’re an employer’s HR department.

What Changed in Bill 30

The biggest change is a new Administrative Monetary Penalty regime under the OHSA. Inspectors can now levy fines for workplace safety violations without going to court. Before this, they had two options: compliance orders (no financial bite) and prosecutions (slow, expensive, reserved for the worst cases). Everything in between? Effectively unpunished.

AMPs fill that gap. $500 to $25,000 per contravention for individuals, up to $100,000 for corporations, and each day a violation continues can be treated as a separate contravention. Employers who receive an AMP can request a review by the Ontario Labour Relations Board within 30 days, and the Board’s decision can be appealed to Divisional Court on questions of law.

Ottawa already has a version of this. The Canada Labour Code’s administrative monetary penalties for federally regulated employers, in place since 2014, allow penalties up to $250,000 per violation. BC’s WorkSafeBC can go up to $725,000 for repeat or willful violations. Ontario’s new caps land at the lower end of the Canadian spectrum. Not exactly a deterrent for a large construction firm.

The AED Requirement

The bill also formalized new requirements for automated external defibrillators on construction sites (projects lasting three or more months with 20 or more workers) and updated safety standards across multiple workplace categories.

Between 2019 and 2024, at least 14 construction workers in Ontario suffered sudden cardiac arrest on job sites. The average construction worker in the province is now 42; heat, dust, and physical strain mean elevated cardiac risk comes with the job.

Building trades unions had been pushing for mandatory AED access since 2021. Four years. At least 14 deaths. For a requirement that costs $3,000 per site.

Under the new rules, at least one worker per shift must be trained to use the AED, and the device must be within a two-minute walk from any point on the project. Equipment costs run between $1,500 and $3,000 per unit, a modest expense relative to the overall cost of a construction project that meets the 20-worker threshold.

Lifetime Drunk Driving Bans (Yes, in a Workplace Bill)

Bill 30 included a provision establishing lifetime licence bans for impaired driving that causes death. Not a workplace issue. Not even close. But it got bundled into the omnibus bill as part of the government’s public safety messaging, because omnibus legislation is a convenient vehicle for unrelated provisions, and this one had enough political appeal to warrant the ride.

Cutting Red Tape Across Borders (Provincial Ones, Anyway)

Another provision strengthened Ontario’s “as of right” framework for professional mobility. Certified professionals from other Canadian provinces can now begin working in Ontario within 10 business days, for up to six months, while their full registration is processed. More than 50 non-health regulatory authorities are covered. The goal: plug skills shortages by cutting interprovincial licensing delays.

Ten days versus six months. That difference matters.

In practical terms, a licensed electrician from Alberta can now arrive in Ontario and begin working on a Monday, provided they submit their application and supporting documents. Within 10 business days, they receive provisional authorization. A plumber from New Brunswick, a land surveyor from Saskatchewan, a professional engineer from British Columbia: same deal. Previously, even workers in regulated trades with identical certification standards across provinces could wait three to six months for Ontario credential recognition (a delay that frequently drove skilled tradespeople toward provinces with faster processes).

Health professions are excluded; they have their own (often slower) credential recognition processes. It also does not override profession-specific requirements where Ontario’s standards differ materially from other provinces, though the government has committed to narrowing those gaps through the Canadian Free Trade Agreement’s mutual recognition provisions.

Adding It All Up

Individually, each bill is modest and hard to oppose. That is the strategy. The Ford government gets to call itself labour-friendly without picking any fight that costs it anything.

The Ontario Federation of Labour sees through it. OFL president Patty Coates said the government “knows how to name a bill” but has not restored card-check union certification, strengthened successor rights for contract workers, or closed the gap between minimum wage ($17.20 as of October 2025) and the living wage ($23.15 in Toronto).

$5.95 an hour. That’s the space between what these bills deliver and what workers actually need.

Building trades unions see it differently. Sean Strickland, head of Canada’s Building Trades Unions, called the AED provision and the professional mobility changes “practical steps that will save lives and get more people on the tools.” The Labourers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Ontario Provincial District Council similarly endorsed the AMP regime, noting that financial penalties for safety violations are “the only language some employers understand.”

What the series consistently avoids is any structural fight. Minimum wage stays CPI-linked and below the living wage. Bill 124’s wage-suppression effects on public-sector workers took years to unwind. And the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, introduced in the second instalment, still hasn’t produced regulations that change anything for the province’s estimated 100,000 app-based workers. Five years and counting.

Bill 30 will not be the last instalment. Working for Workers Eight is probably already named.

Sources and verification: Bill 30 (Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025) received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025, per Ontario legislature records. The January 1, 2026 effective date for OHSA amendments is from Hicks Morley legal analysis and Ontario government notices. The AMP regime details, including penalty ranges ($500-$25,000 individual, up to $100,000 corporate) and review process, are from OHSA regulatory updates and Ontario Labour Relations Board procedural guidance. Federal AMP comparisons are from the Canada Labour Code Part II administrative penalties framework. British Columbia penalty maximums are from WorkSafeBC published enforcement data. The AED requirement for construction sites is from Bill 30’s OHSA provisions. Construction worker cardiac incident data is from Ontario Ministry of Labour workplace fatality and injury reports. The average construction worker age is from Statistics Canada labour force survey data. The lifetime impaired driving ban is from the Highway Traffic Act amendments in Bill 30. The professional mobility “as of right” framework and 10-business-day timeline are from Ontario government announcements. The count of seven Working for Workers bills reflects legislation introduced between 2021 and 2025. Key provisions of Bills 27, 88, 79, 149, and 190 are from Ontario legislature records. OFL and building trades union responses are from published statements following Bill 30’s passage. The living wage estimate for Toronto ($23.15/hour) is from the Ontario Living Wage Network’s 2025 calculations.

---

Track all Working for Workers legislation at Ontario Pulse.