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

ONTARIO REGULATION 157/20

formerly under Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act

WORK DEPLOYMENT MEASURES FOR MUNICIPALITIES

Note: This Regulation was revoked on April 27, 2022. (See: O. Reg. 346/22, s. 1)

Last amendment: 346/22.

Legislative History: 395/20, 124/21, 346/22.

This is the English version of a bilingual regulation.

Terms of Order

1. The terms of this Order are set out in Schedule 1. O. Reg. 395/20, s. 3.

schedule 1

Application

1. This Schedule applies to every municipality, within the meaning of the Municipal Act, 2001, in which an emergency is or has been declared under section 4 of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act by the head of the municipality’s council.

Exclusions

2. (1) This Schedule does not apply with respect to persons normally employed as firefighters within the meaning of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997.

(2) This Schedule does not apply with respect to persons normally employed by a municipality in the operation of ambulance services within the meaning of the Ambulance Act, including paramedics within the meaning of that Act.

(3) This Schedule does not apply with respect to employees normally employed at municipal drinking water systems or at wastewater collection facilities or wastewater treatment facilities operated by a municipality.

(4) This Schedule does not apply with respect to employees normally employed at long-term care homes maintained by a municipality and, for greater certainty, Ontario Regulation 77/20 (Work Deployment Measures in Long-Term Care Homes) applies with respect to those employees.

(5) This Schedule does not apply with respect to employees normally employed at a board of health within the meaning of subsection 1 (1) of the Health Protection and Promotion Act if the employer is a municipality and, for greater certainty, Ontario Regulation 116/20 (Work Deployment Measures for Boards of Health) applies with respect to those employees.

Work redeployment and staffing

3. (1) A municipality is authorized to take, with respect to work deployment and staffing of the municipality, any reasonably necessary measure to respond to, prevent and alleviate the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) (“the Virus”) so as to prevent, reduce or mitigate the effect of the Virus on critical municipal services that are delivered by its employees.

(2) The critical municipal services referred to in subsection (1) are,

(a) the maintenance of municipal long-term care homes;

(b) the delivery of public health services;

(c) the operation of homeless shelters and the provision of services to homeless persons;

(d) the provision of drinking water;

(e) waste management and sanitation;

(f) wastewater management;

(g) public transportation services operated by the municipality;

(h) the provision of assistance under the Ontario Works Act, 1997, if the municipality is designated as a delivery agent under that Act;

(i) the administration, operation and funding of child care programs and services under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014;

(j) the enforcement of by-laws; and

(k) services related to the implementation of the municipality’s emergency plan.

Measures

4. Without limiting the generality of section 3, and despite any other statute, regulation, order, policy, arrangement or agreement, including a collective agreement, municipalities are authorized to do the following:

1. Identify staffing priorities and develop, modify and implement redeployment plans for the municipality, including the following:

i. Redeploying staff within different locations in the municipality.

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

iii. Changing the scheduling of work or shift assignments.

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

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

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

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

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

3. Require and collect information from staff, contractors or volunteers about their availability to provide services for the municipality.

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

5. Cancel or postpone services that are not related to responding to, preventing or alleviating the outbreak of the Virus or services that are not deemed to be critical by a municipality’s emergency plan.

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

Redeployment plans

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

Notice to bargaining agents

6. A municipality shall provide at least 24 hours notice to bargaining agents that represent any affected bargaining units within the municipality before implementing a redeployment plan described in paragraph 1 of section 4.

O. Reg. 157/20; O. Reg. 395/20, s. 4; O. Reg. 124/21, s. 1.

 

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