Ontario’s employment standards claims backlog improving

Slated to be eliminated by March 2012

The backlog in Ontario’s employment standards claims should be eliminated by March 2012, according to the province’s Ministry of Labour.

"Through our enhanced compliance strategy, we will continue reaching out to employers through a mix of education, outreach and enforcement to help ensure we stem any problems before they arise and enforce the legislation," said Stephen Grier, acting director of the employment standards program.

The ministry established a task force to eliminate a backlog of employment standards claims in 2010 and made program changes in January 2011.

Since then the wait time for early resolution — when claims are assigned to an officer — has dropped from 7.1 months to about three days and the backlog has been reduced by more than two-thirds, the ministry said.

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