Amendments to the Employment Standards Act and Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act will help clarify and improve the employment standards complaint and dispute-resolution process for employers and workers.

“The Employment Standards Branch (ESB) ensures that employees in B.C. receive minimum standards of compensation and conditions of employment, helping protect workers from exploitation,” said Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Labour. “These proposed changes are steps toward improving the process, helping people get to resolution sooner.”

The ESB receives and investigates complaints of contraventions of the Employment Standards Act and the Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act for non-unionized employees and temporary foreign workers, and facilitates voluntary compliance or issues decisions and levies penalties for contraventions under the two acts.

The amendments improve several parts of the complaint system by increasing opportunities for resolving complaints on issues that are clear and straightforward, and by helping match workers with their unclaimed wages more efficiently.

The proposed changes are intended to improve the complaint process without compromising access to the rights and protections that the Employment Standards Act and the Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act provide to all workers in B.C.