Court of Appeal for Ontario set to release Bill 124 ruling on Monday

TORONTO — Ontario’s Appeal Court is set to release its ruling on a provincial wage restraint law known as Bill 124 on Monday.

The 2019 law capped salary increases for public sector workers to one per cent a year for three years.

Labour groups and unions representing hundreds of thousands of public sector employees challenged the law and the Ontario Superior Court in late 2022 found it infringed collective bargaining rights, striking it down as unconstitutional.

The government appealed and the case was heard in June, and the Appeal Court says its decision will be released on Monday.

Since the law was struck down, even while pending appeal, arbitrators have awarded additional retroactive pay to several groups of workers that had “reopener” clauses in their contracts, including teachers, nurses, other hospital workers, public servants, ORNGE air ambulance paramedics, and college faculty.

Labour leaders and opposition critics have repeatedly called for the law to be repealed, and for the government to stop pursuing an appeal.

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

The Canadian Press