More than a year after the Ford government reversed its controversial wage restraint legislation on the back of successive court defeats, a number of workers are still waiting for compensation.
At the beginning of 2024, the government agreed to reverse its Bill 124, a controversial measure which had capped public sector pay increases at one per cent annually for three years.
A group of major unions appealed against the law and won two court battles before the government agreed to reverse it, opening a slew of renegotiations where public sector employers had to settle with their employees for three years.
More than a year after that, however, some are still waiting to be paid.
The government confirmed to Global News that the “majority” of public sector employees have received compensation, but accepted that some were still without their funding.
“Claims, things that were settled later, roll out later,” Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney said.
“So everyone will be paid back; it’s just a matter of the timing of when those decisions were made. The payments were the responsibility of the employer as well.”
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The legislation, first introduced in 2019 by now-finance minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, was sold as a cost-saving measure designed to “protect vital services and front-line jobs.”
Almost immediately after losing a second successive court battle over the law, the Ford government was forced to repeal the legislation altogether, triggering arbitrated settlements that gave employees in education, health care and other sectors billions of dollars in back pay.
Major unions like nurses and civil servants secured deals early on, often through arbitration. By halfway through 2024, the government pegged the cost of repaying Bill 124 at almost $7 billion.
Keen to put the controversy behind it — and accepting public sector workers were due compensation — it aimed to wrap up repayments quickly.
The government told Global News last summer it had been planning to complete all repayments by the fall of 2024. That is a deadline the government ultimately missed.
Workers at the Canadian Hearing Society are among those still waiting to receive their Bill 124 compensation. Their union, a CUPE local, is currently on strike over broader issues and confirmed to Global News that a Bill 124 remedy had not been confirmed.
A CUPE spokesperson estimated the Hearing Society workers could be due around 6.5 per cent as backpay — a number that would be anywhere between $4,600 and $14,700 depending on the worker.
Mulroney said she wasn’t aware of each individual union that needed to be repaid — but said she would look into individual requests.
“If they reach out and express their concerns, then we’re certainly looking into it,” she told Global News.
“I understand the majority of payments have been made, there’s still a few that are outstanding, there’s some that are a little more complicated, especially if the employees have been inactive for a while. And so, Treasury Board is working very closely on those files.”
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Ford government was shirking its responsibilities, since Bill 124 was legislation it introduced in the first place.
“It’s very disappointing to hear the minister shrug this off as if it’s somebody else’s problem,” she said. “We would not be in this situation if the government hadn’t imposed arguably unlawful restrictions on people’s pay.”
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