Domestic and Sexual Violence Workplace Leave, Accommodation and Training Act, 2016 Sattler, Peggy — Bill 26 (41st Parliament, 2nd Session)

Bill 26, 41-2

Ontario — Bills

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Bill 26, Domestic and Sexual Violence Workplace Leave, Accommodation and Training Act, 2016

Sattler, Peggy

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[41] Bill 26 Original (PDF)

Bill 26 2016

An Act to amend the

Employment Standards Act, 2000 in respect of leave and accommodation for

victims of domestic or sexual violence and to amend the Occupational Health and

Safety Act in respect of information and instruction concerning domestic and

sexual violence

Her

Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Employment Standards Act, 2000

1. (1) Subsection

1 (1) of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 is

amended by adding the following

definitions:

"domestic

violence" means,

(

a) an

act of abuse between an individual and a current or former intimate partner,

between an individual and a child who resides with the individual, or between

an individual and an adult who resides with the individual and who is related

to the individual by blood, marriage, foster care or adoption, whether the

abuse is physical, sexual, emotional or psychological, and may include

an act

of coercion, stalking, harassment or financial control, or

(

b) a

threat or attempt to do

an act described in clause (a); ("violence familiale")

"intimate partner" includes a spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend,

dating partner, sexual partner or an individual with whom one has a

relationship similar to the relationships enumerated in this definition;

("partenaire intime")

"sexual violence" means any conduct of a sexual nature or

act targeting an individual's sexuality, gender identity or gender expression

that is committed, threatened or attempted against an individual without the

individual's consent, and includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking,

indecent exposure, voyeurism, sexual exploitation and sexual solicitation, and

may include

an act that occurs online or in the context of domestic or intimate

partner relationships; ("violence sexuelle")

(2) Subsection 15 (7) of the Act is

repealed and the following substituted:

Retain

documents re leave

(7) An

employer shall retain or arrange for some other person to retain all notices,

certificates, correspondence and other documents given to or produced by the

employer that relate to an employee taking a leave of absence under

Part XIV

for three years after the day on which the leave expired.

Retain

documents re accommodation

(7.1) An employer shall retain or arrange

for some other person to retain all documents given to or produced by the

employer that relate to accommodation of an employee who requests or is given

accommodation in respect of domestic violence or sexual violence under

section

16.1 or 19.1 for three years after the day on which the accommodation ceased.

(3) The Act is amended by adding the

following Part:

part VI.1

place of work

Domestic

violence or sexual violence - accommodation

16.1

(1) If

an employee or the employee's child has experienced domestic violence or sexual

violence, and as a result the employee needs to work at a place of work other

than where the employer has assigned the employee, the employer shall accommodate

the employee's need unless it would cause the employer undue hardship, considering

the cost, outside sources of funding, if any, and health and safety

requirements, if any.

Exception

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply with

respect to domestic violence or sexual violence committed by the employee.

Evidence

(3) An employer may require an employee who

needs accommodation under subsection (1) to provide evidence reasonable in the

circumstances that the employee needs accommodation.

Prescribed

evidence

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3),

evidence reasonable in the circumstances includes any evidence prescribed as reasonable

in the circumstances and does not include any evidence prescribed as not

reasonable in the circumstances.

(4) The Act is amended by adding the

following section:

Domestic

violence or sexual violence - accommodation

19.1

(1) If

an employee or the employee's child has experienced domestic violence or sexual

violence, and as a result the employee needs fewer hours of work or needs to

work at different times than the employer has assigned the employee, the

employer shall accommodate the employee's need unless it would cause the

employer undue hardship, considering the cost, outside sources of funding, if

any, and health and safety requirements, if any.

Exception

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply with

respect to domestic violence or sexual violence committed by the employee.

Evidence

(3) An employer may require an employee who

needs accommodation under subsection (1) to provide evidence reasonable in the

circumstances that the employee needs accommodation.

Prescribed

evidence

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3),

evidence reasonable in the circumstances includes any evidence prescribed as reasonable

in the circumstances and does not include any evidence prescribed as not

reasonable in the circumstances.

(5) Subsection 49.1 (12) of the Act is repealed

and the following substituted:

Leave

under ss. 49.3, 49.4, 49.5, 49.6 and 50

(12) An employee's

entitlement to leave under this

section is in addition to any entitlement to

leave under sections 49.3, 49.4, 49.5, 49.6 and 50.

(6) Subsection 49.3 (9) of the Act is

repealed and the following substituted:

Leave

under ss. 49.1, 49.4, 49.5, 49.6 and 50

(9) An employee's entitlement to

leave under this

section is in addition to any entitlement to leave under sections

49.1, 49.4, 49.5, 49.6 and 50.

(7) Subsection 49.4 (18) of the Act is

repealed and the following substituted:

Leave

under ss. 49.1, 49.3, 49.5, 49.6 and 50

(18) An employee's

entitlement to leave under this

section is in addition to any entitlement to

leave under sections 49.1, 49.3, 49.5, 49.6 and 50.

(8) Subsection 49.5 (18) of the Act is

repealed and the following substituted:

Leave

under ss. 49.1, 49.3, 49.4, 49.6 and 50

(18) An employee's

entitlement to leave under this

section is in addition to any entitlement to

leave under sections 49.1, 49.3, 49.4, 49.6 and 50.

(9) The Act is amended by adding the

following section:

Domestic Violence or Sexual

Violence Leave

Domestic violence or sexual violence

leave

Definition

49.6

(1) In

this section,

"child" means a child, step-child or

foster child who is under 18 years of age.

Entitlement

to leave - prescribed duration

(2) An employee is entitled to a leave of

absence of a prescribed duration if the employee or the employee's child experienced

domestic violence or sexual violence.

Entitlement

to leave - reasonable duration

(3) If a duration is not prescribed for the

purposes of subsection (2), the employee is entitled to a leave of absence of a

reasonable duration.

Entitlement

to leave - purposes

(4) An employee is only entitled to a leave

of absence under subsection (2) or (3) if the employee uses the leave of absence

for one or more of the following purposes:

1. To

seek medical attention for the employee or the employee's child in respect of a

physical or psychological injury or disability caused by the violence.

2. To

obtain services for the employee or the employee's child in respect of the

violence from a victim services organization, domestic violence shelter, rape

crisis centre, sexual assault centre or other social services program or

community agency.

3. To

obtain psychological or other professional counselling for the employee or the

employee's child in respect of the violence.

4. To

relocate temporarily or permanently for the purpose of making future violence

against the employee or the employee's child less likely.

5. To

seek legal or law enforcement assistance for the employee or the employee's

child, including preparing for or participating in any civil, criminal or

administrative proceeding related to or resulting from the violence.

6. To

do anything else prescribed by the regulations.

Exception

(5) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply

with respect to domestic violence or sexual violence committed by the employee.

Entitlement

to pay

(6) An employee who takes a leave of

absence under this

section is entitled to be paid, but if the employee takes

more than 10 days of leave under this

section in a calendar year, the employee

is only entitled to be paid during the first 10 days of leave in that calendar

year.

Amount

of pay for an employee with regular hours

(7) An employee's pay for each day under

subsection (6) shall be the amount of regular wages that the employee would

have earned if the employee had worked the employee's regular work day.

Amount of pay for an

employee without regular hours

(8) If

the employee does not have a regular work day, the employee's pay for each day

under subsection (6) shall be the total amount of regular wages earned and

vacation pay payable to the employee in the four work weeks before the week in

which the employee began the leaves of absence under this Part, divided by 20.

Other

paid leave under the employment contract

(9) An employee's entitlement to be paid

under subsection (6) is in addition to any other entitlement to paid leave

under the employee's employment contract.

Advising

employer

(10) An employee who wishes to take leave

under this

section shall advise the employer in writing that the employee will

be doing so.

Same

(11) If the employee must begin the leave

before advising the employer, the employee shall advise the employer of the

leave in writing as soon as possible after beginning it.

Leave

deemed to be taken in entire days

(12) If an employee takes any part of a day

as leave under this section, the employer may deem the employee to have taken

one day's leave on that day for the purposes of this section.

Evidence

(13) An employer may require an employee

who takes a leave under this

section to provide evidence reasonable in the

circumstances that the employee is entitled to the leave.

Prescribed

sufficient evidence

(14) For the purposes of subsection (13),

evidence reasonable in the circumstances includes any evidence prescribed as

reasonable in the circumstances and does not include any evidence prescribed as

not reasonable in the circumstances.

Leave

under ss. 49.1, 49.3, 49.4, 49.5 and 50

(15) An employee's entitlement to leave

under this

section is in addition to any entitlement to leave under sections

49.1, 49.3, 49.4, 49.5 and 50.

(10) Part XIV of the Act is amended by

adding the following section:

Confidentiality

53.1

(1) An

employer shall keep confidential any information that relates to an employee's

leave under this Part.

Exceptions

(2) Despite subsection (1), an employer may

disclose the confidential information under one of the following exceptions:

1. The

employee consents.

2. Someone

who works for the employer as an employee or agent needs the information to do

their job.

3. The

disclosure is required by law.

Occupational Health and Safety Act

2. The

Occupational Health and Safety Act is amended by

adding the following section:

Information

and instruction, domestic and sexual violence

32.0.5.1 An

employer shall ensure that every manager, supervisor and worker receives

information and instruction about domestic violence in the workplace and sexual

violence in the workplace.

Commencement and

Short Title

Commencement

3. This

Act comes into force three months after the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short

title

4. The

short title of this Act is the Domestic and Sexual

Violence Workplace Leave, Accommodation and Training Act, 2016 .

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The

Employment Standards Act, 2000 is amended. An

employee may take a leave of absence if they have

Document details

Collection	Ontario — Bills
Citation	Bill 26, 41-2
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	p41 s2 bill 26 html
Language	en
Format	html
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	296ec7160dd44996f0f34269c42116008888ebbf

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