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# result(s)

Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020

ONTARIO REGULATION 74/20

formerly under Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act

WORK REDEPLOYMENT FOR CERTAIN HEALTH SERVICE PROVIDERS

Historical version for the period July 15, 2020 to January 17, 2021.

Last amendment: 379/20.

Legislative History: 174/20, 379/20.

This is the English version of a bilingual regulation.

Terms of Order

1. The terms of this Order are set out in Schedule A. O. Reg. 379/20, s. 3.

SCHEDULE A

1.  This Order applies province-wide to health service providers within the meaning of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of subsection 1 (2) of the Connecting Care Act, 2019.

1.1  In this Order, “licensee” and “long-term care home” have the same meaning as in the Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007.

2.  Health service providers shall and are authorized to take, with respect to work deployment and staffing, any reasonably necessary measure to respond to, prevent and alleviate the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) (the “Virus”) for patients.

2.1  Despite any other statute, regulation, order, policy, arrangement or agreement, including a collective agreement, health service providers are authorized to assist long-term care homes including, without limitation, by providing assessments in relation to a long-term care home’s infection prevention and control program, by providing clinical supervision within a long-term care home and by providing nursing and personal support services, including assistance with feeding, to residents of a long-term care home.

2.2  In the circumstances described in paragraph 2.1, the following rules apply for the duration of this Order:

i.  Staff of a health service provider who provide assistance within a long-term care home remain staff of the health service provider.

ii.  The provision of assistance shall not impact whether the health service provider and the licensee of the long-term care home are treated as constituting one employer for the purposes of subsection 1 (4) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995.

iii.  The health service provider shall not, by virtue of providing the assistance, be considered to have sold a part of its business to the licensee of the long-term care home for the purposes of section 69 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995.

3.  Without limiting the generality of paragraph 2, and despite any other statute, regulation, order, policy, arrangement or agreement, including a collective agreement, health service providers shall and are authorized to do the following:

i.  Identify staffing priorities and develop, modify and implement redeployment plans, including the following:

A.  Redeploying staff within different locations in (or between) facilities of the health service provider.

A.1  Redeploying staff to provide assistance described in paragraph 2.1 within a long-term care home.

B.  Redeploying staff to work in COVID-19 Assessment Centres.

C.  Changing the assignment of work, including assigning non-bargaining unit employees or contractors to perform bargaining unit work.

D.  Changing the scheduling of work or shift assignments.

E.  Deferring or cancelling vacations, absences or other leaves, regardless of whether such vacations, absences or leaves are established by statute, regulation, agreement or otherwise.

F.  Employing extra part-time or temporary staff or contractors, including for the purposes of performing bargaining unit work.

G.  Using volunteers to perform work, including to perform bargaining unit work.

H.  Providing appropriate training or education as needed to staff and volunteers to achieve the purposes of a redeployment plan.

  For greater certainty, a health service provider may implement redeployment plans without complying with provisions of a collective agreement, including lay-off, seniority/service or bumping provisions.

ii.  Conduct any skills and experience inventories of staff to identify possible alternative roles in priority areas.

iii.  Require and collect information from staff or contractors about their availability to provide services for the health service provider.

iv.  Require the provision of and collect information from staff or contractors about their likely or actual exposure to the Virus, or about any other health conditions that may affect their ability to provide services.

v.  Cancel or postpone services that are not related to responding to, preventing or alleviating the outbreak of the Virus.

vi.  Suspend, for the duration of this Order, any grievance process with respect to any matter referred to in this Order.

O. Reg. 74/20, Sched. A; O. Reg. 174/20, s. 3, 4.