On the first of June, the general minimum wage in Ontario will be raised from $10.25 to $11.00, but technically that rule doesn’t apply to anyone with an iron ring. The Ontario Ministry of Labour enforces the Employment Standards Act (ESA), which sets out the minimum standards that employers and employees must follow. There are a number of professions which are not covered by the ESA, and even more that are exempt from certain sections of the act. As it turns out, a person employed as a duly qualified practitioner of professional engineering falls under the latter of those two categories.
As a professional engineer, an employee is not: entitled to minimum wage, covered by the daily and weekly limits on hours of work, covered by the daily rest period rule, covered by the time off between shifts rules, covered by the weekly/bi-weekly rest period rule, entitled to an eating period, entitled to overtime pay, entitled to personal emergency leave where taking the leave would constitute an act of professional misconduct or dereliction of professional duty, entitled to public holidays or public holiday pay, and not entitled to a vacation with pay.
These exemptions and special rules come into existence as a result of lobbying from industry representatives to elected officials. For those who don’t know, lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government. These industry representatives must show how these rules are necessary to complete their work effectively. Documents regarding the details of these justifications are not readily available and as a result, any analyses presented in this article are purely speculation.
The ESA sets out the minimum standards that employers and employees must follow. This means that just because these rules and exemptions apply, it does not mean that they are put into practice often, or even at all. Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) states that its mandate is to ensure that the public is protected and that individuals and companies providing engineering services uphold a strict code of professional ethics and conduct and in order to uphold that mandate, some exemptions needed to be put in place. In the event of some sort of emergency where there is the need for industry professionals to work around the clock in order to right the issue, it may be necessary to enforce some of the exemptions from the act. At the same time, if the exemptions were enforced on a regular basis very few people would pursue a career in that profession, and employee morale would be too low to facilitate dedicated work.
Professional engineer is not the only occupation with exemptions or special rules; architects, IT professionals, lawyers, managerial an supervisory employees, municipal employees, Ontario government and Ontario government agency employees, public accountants, surveyors, and teachers are all included in the government, white collar, and professionals industry group. There are eight of these industry groups to which exemptions apply, each of them having their own list of occupations. The Ministry of Labour has a “Special Rule Tool” on their website for anyone interested in looking into this subject further.
https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/srt/coverage_government_pro_eng.php
Leave a Reply