Closing the Employment Standards Enforcement Gap: An Agenda For Change

This report sets out a vision for strengthening the enforcement of the ESA. It advances recommendations for updating the provisions and enforcement of the Act so that it better protects people in precarious jobs. The report draws on research findings of “Closing the Employment Standards Enforcement Gap,” a multi-year research partnership supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and involving researchers from eight universities, an international advisory team of academic experts drawn from Australia, the United States, and Europe, as well as workers’ advocates from across Ontario. The research project adopts a mixed-method approach, incorporating archival data, interviews with workers and with staff of the Ministry of Labour, and analyses of Statistics Canada data and administrative data relating to the enforcement of the ESA.