The pandemic changed the way many work, with more people now working from home.
In response to these changes, the province is proposing updates to employment laws to protect remote and precarious workers.
Labour Minister Monte McNaughton made the announcement Monday.
He says the changes would give remote workers the same eight-week minimum notice of termination or pay-in-lieu as other employees.
McNaughton says it could increase how much a worker receives in a layoff by as much as eight times, as the minimum severance pay for an individual layoff is one week, whereas the minimum for a mass layoff is eight weeks.
The labour minister says he will be introducing legislation that would include broadening the definition of an establishment under the Employment Standards Act to include employees’ remote home offices.
“Whether you commute to work every day or not shouldn’t determine what you are owed. No billion-dollar company should be treating their remote employees as second-class,” said McNaughton. “The future of work is here, and our government will continue to lead the country in ensuring workers have the protections they need to find better jobs and earn bigger paycheques in the 21st century economy.”
