OGCA News

With vaccinations increasing steadily and COVID-19 cases on a consistent decline, the prospect of returning to some semblance of “normal” is exciting and starting to materialize as a possible reality for our members and society as a whole. COVID-19 has been a real pain for everyone and created not only an added layer of stress because of the actual pandemic itself, but multiple pandemic-related issues have manifested that are causing our members grief! I want to highlight a few issues that make me cringe and tell you how the OGCA is addressing them.

 

 

 

 

 

General contractors need to make numerous decisions while on the job, many of which are guided by the Ontario Building Code (OBC). However, the OBC is an immense and complex document that can be difficult to navigate. And if you’ve ever tried to lug that enormous binder on-site, or had to manually swap out pages when an update is issued, you know how cumbersome and inconvenient it can be. 

 

 

 

 

On May 29, 2020, the Government of Ontario introduced a regulation under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) that provided relief to any employer that had temporarily laid off or reduced the wages and/or hours of a non-union employee due to COVID-19. The regulation largely exempts any such layoff or reduction from being deemed a termination of employment, such that there is no obligation to provide ESA notice or severance pay. The employee is deemed to be on an Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (“IDEL”).