The Ontario government is proposing new rules for restaurant owners to better protect the wages of their employees.
The province will be introducing legislation that will update the Working For Workers Act and Employment Standards Act that will ban unpaid trial shifts and ensure employers can’t deduct an employee’s wages in the event of a dine-and-dash.
“These changes to the Employment Standards Act give restaurant employees the protection they deserve. They will reduce costs for employees around their gratuities, ensure their earnings are safeguarded from patrons who dine and dash and reinforce that our employees’ hard-earned paycheques are their own,” said Kelly Higginson, president and CEO of Restaurants Canada, in a news release. “These positive changes simply reflect what is already practiced by the vast majority of those in our industry.”
The provincial government said current laws generally require employees to be paid for all hours worked and prohibit pay deductions, however, punitive pay deductions and unpaid trial shifts are still common.
According to the province, as many as one in 20 diners leave a restaurant without paying.
Also included in the new legislation are charges that would require employers to post in the workplace if they have a policy of sharing pooled tips to ensure workers are paid what they are owed.
If passed, the new legislation will protect more than 400,000 Ontarians in the restaurant and hospitality industry.
