Boxing Day Shopping Act, 1996
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The Bill amends the Retail Business Holidays Act by deleting December 26 from the definition of holiday. The Act is further amended to provide that commercial leases may not require a tenant to remain open on December 26, even though it is no longer a holiday. In the complementary amendments to the Employment Standards Act, workers retain the right to refuse work on December 26.
Bill 951996
An Act to permit shopping on
Boxing Day by amending the
Retail Business Holidays Act and
the Employment Standards Act
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
Retail Business Holidays Act
1. (1) The definition of "holiday" in subsection 1 (1) of the Retail Business Holidays Act, as amended by the Statutes of Ontario, 1993, chapter 14, section 1, is repealed and the following substituted:
"holiday" means,
(a) New Year's Day,
(b) Good Friday,
(c) Victoria Day,
(d) Canada Day,
(e) Labour Day,
(f) Thanksgiving Day,
(g) Christmas Day,
(h) Easter Sunday, and
(i) any other public holiday declared by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor to be a holiday for the purposes of this Act. ("jour férié")
(2) Subsection 1 (2) of the Act is amended by striking out "(i)" in the fourth line and substituting "(h)".
2. Section 6 of the Act, as re-enacted by the Statutes of Ontario, 1993, chapter 14, section 3, is repealed and the following substituted:
Commercial tenants
6. A provision in a lease or other agreement that has theeffect of requiring a retail business establishment to remain open on a holiday or on a Sunday or on December 26 is of no effect even if the lease or agreement was made before section 2 of the Boxing Day Shopping Act, 1996 comes into force.
Employment Standards Act
3. Section 50.2 of the Employment Standards Act, as enacted by the Statutes of Ontario, 1991, chapter 43, section 2, is repealed and the following substituted:
Right to refuse work
50.2 (1) An employee may refuse an assignment of work on,
(a) a Sunday;
(b) New Year's Day;
(c) Good Friday;
(d) Victoria Day;
(e) Canada Day;
(f) Labour Day;
(g) Thanksgiving Day;
(h) Christmas Day;
(i) December 26; or
(j) any public holiday declared by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor to be a holiday for the purposes of the Retail Business Holidays Act.
Notice of refusal
(2) An employee who accepts an assignment of work on a day listed in subsection (1) may then refuse the assignment only upon giving the employer notice at least 48 hours before the first hour of the work on that day.
4. Clause 50.3 (a) of the Act, as enacted by the Statutes of Ontario, 1991, chapter 43, section 2, is amended by striking out "on a Sunday or other holiday" in the third line.
Commencement and Short Title
Commencement
5. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Short title
6. The short title of this Act is the Boxing Day Shopping Act, 1996.