O. Reg. 344/24: GENERAL

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ontario regulation 344/24

made under the

Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022

Made: August 29, 2024
Filed: September 5, 2024
Published on e-Laws: September 5, 2024
Published in The Ontario Gazette: September 21, 2024

GENERAL

CONTENTS

 

Interpretation

Taxicab, limousine services

1. For the purposes of the Act, the provision of taxicab or limousine services is not “digital platform work”.

Wilful misconduct

2. For the purposes of the Act,

“wilful misconduct” means wilful misconduct that is not trivial and has not been condoned by the operator.

Work Assignments

Work assignments

3. (1) A work assignment is a period during which a worker performs digital platform work and that starts and ends as follows:

1. Subject to paragraphs 2 to 4, a work assignment starts when a worker accepts the work assignment through a digital platform.

2. If a worker is performing a work assignment and accepts another work assignment through the same digital platform that is to be performed immediately after the first work assignment, the second work assignment starts when the first work assignment ends.

3. If a worker accepts a work assignment that is to be performed at a specified time in the future, the work assignment starts when the worker begins travelling to the location of the work assignment.

4. If a worker accepts a work assignment but, without reasonable cause, does not make any delivery or passenger drop-off specified in the offer, the work assignment is deemed to have never started.

5. Subject to paragraphs 6 to 8, a work assignment ends when all work included in the work assignment is performed.

6. If a worker does not perform all work included in a work assignment because the operator or a person, other than the worker, who uses the digital platform cancels the assignment, the work assignment ends when the work assignment is cancelled through the digital platform.

7. If a worker, with reasonable cause, does not perform all work included in a work assignment, the work assignment ends when the worker last performs work included in the work assignment.

8. If a worker, without reasonable cause, does not make all deliveries or passenger drop-offs included in a work assignment, the work assignment ends when the worker last makes a delivery or drop-off included in the work assignment.

(2) If a worker accepts more than one work assignment through the same digital platform and some or all of the work included in the assignments is performed at the same time, the assignments are deemed to be one work assignment for the purposes of this section.

(3) For greater certainty, and except as otherwise provided in subsection (4), the period of a work assignment includes any time a worker spends travelling after the work assignment starts and before the work assignment ends but does not include time spent travelling before the work assignment starts or after the work assignment ends.

(4) Despite paragraphs 6 and 7 of subsection (1) and subsection (3), if a worker does not perform all of the work included in a work assignment in a circumstance described in paragraph 6 or 7 of subsection (1) and, as a result of the non-performance, the operator requires the worker to return an item for delivery to a location specified by the operator, the period of the work assignment includes the time spent travelling to return the item and returning the item, but does not include any other time after the cancellation or other circumstance that caused the worker to not perform all of the work included in the assignment, and the work assignment ends when the item is returned.

When work assignment completed

4. For the purposes of subsection 7 (5) of the Act, a work assignment that ends in a circumstance described in paragraph 5, 6, 7 or 8 of subsection 3 (1) or subsection 3 (4) of this Regulation is a completed work assignment.

Right to Information

Right to information

5. For the purposes of paragraph 6 of subsection 7 (1) of the Act, the following information is prescribed:

1. Any factors, including evaluation methods internal or external to an operator, used by the operator to evaluate a worker’s performance and whether there are consequences based on a worker’s evaluation and a description of those consequences.

Right to information — completed work assignment

6. For the purposes of paragraph 3 of subsection 7 (5) of the Act, the following information is prescribed:

1. If the operator uses travel distances or mileage in calculating the amount that will be paid to the worker for the work assignment, those calculations.

2. A description of any amounts that will be paid to the worker for expenses.

3. If the amount that will be paid to the worker for the work assignment includes a premium for working at a specified time or performing a specified task, the amount of premium pay and how that amount was calculated.

4. If multiple work assignments are deemed to be one work assignment under subsection 3 (2), the amount of tips or other gratuities collected by the operator in respect of each original work assignment and the amount of tips or other gratuities that will be paid to the worker in respect of each original work assignment.

5. The times that the work assignment started and finished.

Minimum Wage

Compliance determined on pay period basis

7. (1) Despite paragraph 1 of subsection 9 (2) of the Act, compliance with subsection 9 (1) of the Act may be determined on a pay period basis by dividing the amount paid to the worker for the pay period by the number of hours the worker spent performing work assignments during the pay period.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), if the applicable minimum wage rate changes during a pay period, the calculations required to determine compliance with subsection 9 (1) of the Act shall be performed as if the pay period were two separate pay periods, the first consisting of the part falling before the day on which the change takes effect and the second consisting of the part falling on and after the day on which the change takes effect.

(3) If minimum wage compliance is determined on a pay period basis as described in subsection (1) and, in order to comply with subsection 9 (1) of the Act, the operator pays a worker an amount in addition to the amount the worker was informed the worker would be paid for the work under paragraph 1 of subsection 7 (5) of the Act, the operator shall inform the worker of that additional amount, in writing, on or before the pay day for the pay period.

Excluded amounts

8. For the purposes of paragraph 3 of subsection 9 (2) of the Act, the following shall not be included in determining compliance with subsection 9 (1) of the Act:

1. Any sums paid as gifts or bonuses that are dependent on the discretion of the operator and that are not related to hours, production or efficiency.

2. Expenses.

3. Operator contributions to a benefit plan and payments to which a worker is entitled from a benefit plan.

Notice of Removal

Notice of removal

9. For the purposes of subsection 11 (2) of the Act, the following circumstances are prescribed:

1. The worker is removed from the operator’s digital platform because of public safety concerns.

2. The worker is removed from the operator’s digital platform as required by law or because the worker cannot otherwise legally perform digital platform work under an applicable federal or provincial law or municipal by-law.

Record Keeping

Records

10. For the purposes of paragraph 6 of subsection 14 (1) of the Act, the following information is prescribed:

1. The information provided to the worker under section 7 of the Act or subsection 7 (3) of this Regulation.

2. Any written explanation or written notice provided to the worker under section 11 of the Act.

Penalties

Prescribed penalties re notices of contravention

11. The following penalties are prescribed for the purposes of subsection 47 (2) of the Act:

 

Item	Column 1 Contravention	Column 2 Penalty amount for corporations	Column 3 Penalty amount for individuals
1.	If the notice relates to a contravention of a provision of the Act or the regulations	$15,000	$250
2.	If the notice relates to the second contravention of a provision of the Act or the regulations in a three-year period	$25,000	$500
3.	If the notice relates to the third or subsequent contravention of a provision of the Act or the regulations in a three-year period	$50,000	$1,000

 

Collections

Third party demand

12. (1) If an operator, director or other person is liable to make a payment under the Act and the Director believes or suspects that a person owes money to or is holding money for, or will within 365 days owe money to or hold money for the operator, director or other person, the Director may demand that the person pay all or part of the money that would otherwise be payable to the operator, director or other person to the Director in trust on account of the liability under the Act.

(2) A demand made under subsection (1) remains in force for 365 days from the date the notice of the demand is served.

(3) The Director shall, in accordance with section 20, serve notice of the demand on the person to whom the demand is made.

(4) A person who pays money to the Director in accordance with a demand under this section is relieved from liability for the amount owed to or held for the operator, director or other person who is liable to make a payment under the Act, to the extent of the payment.

(5) If a person who receives a demand under this section makes a payment to the operator, director or other person with respect to whom the demand was made without complying with the demand, the person shall pay to the Director an amount equal to the lesser of,

(a) the amount paid to the operator, director or other person; and

(b) the amount of the demand.

Security for amounts owing

13. If the Director considers it advisable to do so, the Director may accept security for the payment of any amounts owing under the Act in any form that the Director considers satisfactory.

Warrant

14. If an order to pay money has been made under the Act, the Director may issue a warrant, directed to the sheriff for an area in which any property of the operator, director or other person liable to make a payment under the Act is located, to enforce payment of the following amounts, and the warrant has the same force and effect as a writ of execution issued out of the Superior Court of Justice:

1. The amount the order requires the person to pay.

2. The costs and expenses of the sheriff.

Liens on property

15. (1) If an order to pay money has been made under the Act, the amount the order requires the person to pay is, upon registration by the Director in the proper land registry office of a notice claiming a lien and charge conferred by this section, a lien and charge on any interest the operator, director or other person has in the real property described in the notice.

(2) If an order to pay money has been made under the Act, the amount the order requires the person to pay is, upon registration by the Director with the registrar under the Personal Property Security Act of a notice claiming a lien and charge under this section, a lien and charge on any interest in personal property in Ontario owned or held at the time of registration or acquired afterwards by the operator, director or other person liable to make a payment.

(3) The lien and charge conferred by subsection (1) or (2) is in respect of all amounts the order requires the person to pay at the time of registration of the notice or any renewal of it and all amounts for which the person afterwards becomes liable while the notice remains registered and, upon registration of a notice of lien and charge, the lien and charge has priority over,

(a) any perfected security interest registered after the notice is registered;

(b) any security interest perfected by possession after the notice is registered; and

(c) any encumbrance or other claim that is registered against or that otherwise arises and affects the operator, director or other person’s property after the notice is registered.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), a notice of lien and charge under subsection (2) does not have priority over a perfected purchase money security interest in collateral or its proceeds and is deemed to be a security interest perfected by registration for the purposes of the priority rules under section 30 of the Personal Property Security Act.

(5) A notice of lien and charge under subsection (2) is effective from the time assigned to its registration by the registrar and expires on the fifth anniversary of its registration unless a renewal notice of lien and charge is registered under this section before the end of the five-year period, in which case the lien and charge remains in effect for a further five-year period from the date the renewal notice is registered.

(6) If an amount payable under the Act remains outstanding and unpaid at the end of the period, or its renewal, referred to in subsection (5), the Director may register a renewal notice of lien and charge; the lien and charge remains in effect for a five-year period from the date the renewal notice is registered until the amount is fully paid, and is deemed to be continuously registered since the initial notice of lien and charge was registered under subsection (2).

(7) Where an operator, director or other person liable to make a payment has an interest in real property but is not shown as its registered owner in the proper land registry office,

(a) the notice to be registered under subsection (1) shall recite the interest of the operator, director or other person liable to make a payment in the real property; and

(b) a copy of the notice shall be sent to the registered owner at the owner’s address to which the latest notice of assessment under the Assessment Act has been sent.

(8) In addition to any other rights and remedies, if amounts owed by an operator, director or other person liable to make a payment remain outstanding and unpaid, the Director has, in respect of a lien and charge under subsection (2),

(a) all the rights, remedies and duties of a secured party under sections 17, 59, 61, 62, 63 and 64, subsections 65 (4), (5), (6), (6.1) and (7) and section 66 of the Personal Property Security Act;

(b) a security interest in the collateral for the purpose of clause 63 (4) (c) of that Act; and

(c) a security interest in the personal property for the purposes of sections 15 and 16 of the Repair and Storage Liens Act, if it is an article as defined in that Act.

(9) A notice of lien and charge under subsection (2) or any renewal of it shall be in the form of a financing statement or a financing change statement as prescribed under the Personal Property Security Act and may be tendered for registration under Part IV of that Act, or by mail addressed to an address prescribed under that Act.

(10) A notice of lien and charge or any renewal thereof is not invalidated nor is its effect impaired by reason only of an error or omission in the notice or in its execution or registration, unless a reasonable person is likely to be materially misled by the error or omission.

(11) Subject to Crown rights provided under section 87 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada), nothing in this section affects or purports to affect the rights and obligations of any person under that Act.

(12) In this section,

“real property” includes fixtures and any interest of a person as lessee of real property.

Filing of order

16. (1) If an order to pay money has been made under the Act, the Director may cause a copy of the order, certified by the Director to be a true copy, to be filed in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(2) If the Director files a copy of the order, the Director shall serve a letter in accordance with section 20 upon the person against whom the order was issued advising the person of the filing.

(3) The Director may enforce an order filed under subsection (1) in the same manner as a judgment or order of the court.

(4) Subsections (1), (2) and (3) apply, with necessary modifications, to a notice of contravention.

Distribution of money collected

17. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a collector,

(a) shall pay any amount collected with respect to amounts owing under the Act,

(i) to the Director in trust, or

(ii) with the written consent of the Director, to the person entitled to the amounts owing;

(b) shall pay any amount collected with respect to administrative costs to the Director;

(c) shall pay any amount collected with respect to a notice of contravention to the Minister of Finance; and

(d) may retain any amount collected with respect to any collector’s fees and disbursements added to the amount under subsection 50 (10) of the Act.

(2) If the money collected is less than the full amount owing to all persons, including the Director and the collector, the money shall be apportioned among those to whom it is owing in the proportion each is owed and paid to them.

Disclosure by collector

18. (1) A collector may disclose to the Director or allow to be disclosed to the Director any information that was collected under the authority of the Act or the regulations for the purpose of collecting an amount payable under the Act.

(2) Any disclosure of information made under subsection (1) shall be deemed to be in compliance with clause 42 (1) (d) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Settlement by collector

19. (1) A collector may agree to a settlement with the person from whom the collector seeks to collect money, but only with the written agreement of,

(a) the person to whom the money is owed; or

(b) in the case of a notice of contravention, the Director.

(2) A collector shall not agree to a settlement under clause (1) (a) without the Director’s written approval if the person to whom the money is owed would receive less than 75 per cent of the money to which the person was entitled.

(3) If an order to pay has been made under section 33, 34, 36 or 37 of the Act and a settlement respecting the money that was found to be owing is made under this section, the order is void and the settlement is binding if the person against whom the order was issued does what the person agreed to do under the settlement unless, on application to the Board, the individual to whom the money was ordered to be paid demonstrates that the settlement was entered into as a result of fraud or coercion.

(4) If a settlement respecting money that is owing under a notice of contravention is made under this section, the notice is void if the person against whom the notice was issued does what the person agreed to do under the settlement.

(5) The person who owes money under a settlement shall pay the amount agreed upon to the collector, who shall pay it out in accordance with section 17.

Service of Documents

Service of documents

20. (1) For the purposes of section 64 of the Act, a document is sufficiently served on a person if it is served,

(a) in the case of service on an individual, personally, by leaving a copy of the document with the individual;

(b) in the case of service on a corporation, personally, by leaving a copy of the document with an officer, director or agent of the corporation, or with an individual at any place of business of the corporation who appears to be in control or management of the place of business;

(c) by mail addressed to the person’s last known business or residential address using any method of mail delivery that permits the delivery to be verified;

(d) by fax or email if the person is equipped to receive the fax or email;

(e) by a courier service; or

(f) by leaving the document, in a sealed envelope addressed to the person, with an individual who appears to be at least 16 years of age at the person’s last known business or residential address.

(2) Service of a document by means described in clause (1) (a), (b) or (f) is effective when it is left with the individual.

(3) Subject to subsection (6), service of a document by mail is effective five days after the document is mailed.

(4) Subject to subsection (6), service of a document by a fax or email sent on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday or on any other day after 5 p.m. is effective on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

(5) Subject to subsection (6), service of a document by courier is effective two days after the courier takes the document.

(6) Subsections (3), (4) and (5) do not apply if the person establishes that the service was not effective at the time specified in those subsections because of an absence, accident, illness or cause beyond the person’s control.

(7) A certificate of service made by the compliance officer who issued an order or notice under the Act is evidence of the issuance of the order or notice, the service of the order or notice on the person and its receipt by the person if, in the certificate, the officer,

(a) certifies that the copy of the order or notice is a true copy of it;

(b) certifies that the order or notice was served on the person; and

(c) sets out in it the method of service used.

(8) A certificate of service made by the person who served a document under the Act is evidence of the service of the document on the person served and its receipt by that person if, in the certificate, the person who served the document,

(a) certifies that the copy of the document is a true copy of it;

(b) certifies that the document was served on the person; and

(c) sets out in it the method of service used.

Commencement

Commencement

21. This Regulation comes into force on the later of the day subsection 66 (1) of Schedule 1 (Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022) to the Working for Workers Act, 2022 comes into force and the day this Regulation is filed.

 

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