OFL: Workers pay the price as Ford’s Conservatives slash employment law enforcement

TORONTO, Oct. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While Doug Ford extends his summer with ice cream bar press conferences instead of sitting in the legislature, workers are paying the price with gutted court enforcement of their basic employment rights, according to data from the Ontario Court of Justice.

Charges under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) have dropped by 90 per cent over the past ten years, as found by an analysis by the Ontario Federation of Labour and Data Shows.

Over 1,500 charges were laid under the ESA in 2015 – compared to only 150 from April 2024 to March 2025.

And of those 150 charges laid last year, 25 per cent were withdrawn as courts crumple under backlogs and cases get tossed for time delays. Under the Supreme Court’s Jordan limits, charges delayed within the Ontario Court of Justice for 18 months must be dropped.

“Doug Ford works hard at distraction, and we pay the price as working people. Ontario unions fought hard for workplace laws so that you get paid, you get vacation pay, and you get overtime,” said OFL president Laura Walton.

“The Ford government is essentially ripping the floor from underneath workers’ feet, by not enforcing basic employment standards in court. His government is on its seventh iteration of the Working for Workers Act, and yet he’s failing to protect the most basic of employment standards laws. Doesn’t he know the sequel is always worse than the original?”

The ESA sets out minimum wage rates and workplace rules such as vacation and holiday pay, overtime rules, a ban on employers stealing tips, and a prohibition on wage theft.

It applies to almost all workplaces, setting a floor under every individual or union employment contract. But they are not rules if they are not enforced.

“The Ford government is busy meddling with speed cameras. Meanwhile, he’s taken his foot off the pedal when it comes to prosecuting employers for offences like not paying wages or stealing tips. It’s clear where his priorities are, and it’s not with workers – especially those working precarious jobs where wage theft is rampant.”

Further information on the collapse in Employment Standards Act court enforcement is reported by Data Shows.

Media Contact:

Jenny Sellathurai
Director of Communications
Ontario Federation of Labour
jsellathurai@ofl.ca | 416-894-3456

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