BC employment law changes aim to add early dispute resolution opportunities

New proposed amendments to British Columbia’s Employment Standards Act, 1996, and Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act, 2018, seek to help clarify, improve, and speed up the employment standards complaint and dispute resolution process for employers and workers alike. 

According to the provincial government’s announcement, the contemplated changes will: 

• Permit the Employment Standards Branch (ESB) to more swiftly pursue the return of workers’ unclaimed wages via Unclaimed BC, a caretaker for unclaimed funds in the province that finds the rightful owners of unclaimed money 
• Make employers interested in appealing a determination deposit amounts owed before proceeding with their appeals 
• Give the employment standards director the discretion to determine when to require written investigation reports 
• Clarify the director’s ability to close complaints involving no owed wages or other amounts 
• Help the director require parties to participate in complaint resolution meetings for straightforward matters before proceeding toward a full investigation 

In its news release, the BC government noted that the planned amendments aim to help: 

• Resolve complaints on clear and straightforward issues 
• Increase opportunities for early dispute resolution 
• Hasten the matching of workers with their unclaimed wages for more efficient recovery 
• Provide more predictability and fair investigations for employers and workers 
• Encourage communication among parties 
• Align the province’s practices with Canada’s other jurisdictions 

More on ESB

The provincial government explained that 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. 

For breaches under the two laws, the ESB arranges voluntary compliance or makes decisions and levies penalties. 

The ESB “ensures that employees in B.C. receive minimum standards of compensation and conditions of employment, helping protect workers from exploitation,” said Jennifer Whiteside, BC’s labour minister, in the news release. 

According to the BC government, around 75 percent of the ESB’s resolution meetings reach voluntary resolutions within 30–45 days from a file’s initial assignment to an ESB officer.

The provincial government shared that it dedicated $14 million in 2019 to tracking, investigating, and penalizing non-compliant employers and eliminating barriers in an effort to help workers more easily access the ESB’s services. 

In 2023, the BC government raised the ESB’s operating budget by about $12 million over three years.