Bill 124: Ontario Court of Appeal to rule on Monday

TORONTO — The Ontario Court of Appeal is set to issue its decision on the provincial wage cap law, known as Bill 124, on Monday.

The 2019 law limited salary increases for public sector employees to one percent per year for three years.

Labor groups and unions representing hundreds of thousands of public sector workers challenged the law, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled it unconstitutional in late 2022, finding it violated the right to collective bargaining.

The government appealed and the case was heard in June, and the appeals court says it will issue its decision on Monday.

Since the repeal of the law, even pending appeals, arbitrators have awarded additional retroactive pay to several groups of workers with “reopening” clauses in their contracts, including teachers, nurses, other hospital workers, civil servants, ORNGE air ambulance paramedics. and college teachers.

Labor leaders and opposition critics have repeatedly called for the law to be repealed and called on the government to end the crackdown.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 8, 2024.