For factory worker Sateesh Kumar and about 700,000 other temporary workers in Ontario, Family Day is now a pay day.
A new labour regulation that kicked in Jan. 2 gives all temp workers the right to holiday pay — either as a paid day off or as premium pay if they are on the job.
If the province enacts new legislation proposed last December as part of the province’s plan to cut poverty, temp workers will soon have the right to severance and termination pay, too.
Proposed changes to the Employment Standards Act would also reduce barriers to permanent employment, eliminate worker fees and improve access to information for temporary workers.
Toronto data entry clerk Lorraine Ferns, 46, who has worked for temp agencies for the past two years earning about $12 an hour, lost about $300 last summer because her agency refused to pay her for Canada Day, the August civic holiday and Labour Day.
She says she’s tired of being treated like a “second-class worker” and is now looking for permanent employment.
