Bill 124 2012

An Act to amend various statutes with respect to worker safety at service stations

Note:  This Act amends or repeals more than one Act.  For the legislative history of these Acts, see the Table of Consolidated Public Statutes – Detailed Legislative History at www.e-Laws.gov.on.ca.

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Employment Standards Act, 2000

   1.  Part XVIII of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 is amended by adding the following section:

Reprisal, fuel theft

   74.0.1  (1)  No employer who engages in the business of selling fuel at a service station or other place that sells fuel at retail or person acting on behalf of such an employer shall penalize an employee because of a fuel theft that occurs while the employee is working at the service station or other place that sells fuel at retail.

Same

   (2)  For greater certainty, penalizing an employee under subsection (1) includes withholding or deducting wages, reducing hours of work, and denying entitlement to overtime pay, benefits, vacation or any other entitlement under this Act.

   2.  The Act is amended by adding the following section:

Offences re fuel theft

   132.1  A person who contravenes subsection 74.0.1 (1) is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable,

  (a)  if the person is an individual, to a fine of not more than $75,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 12 months or to both;

  (b)  subject to clause (c), if the person is a corporation, to a fine of not more than $200,000; and

   (c)  if the person is a corporation that has previously been convicted of an offence under section 74.0.1,

           (i)  if the person has one previous conviction, to a fine of not more than $500,000, and

          (ii)  if the person has more than one previous conviction, to a fine of not more than $1,000,000.

Highway Traffic Act

   3.  Subsection 41 (1) of the Highway Traffic Act is amended by adding the following clause:

(c.1) under section 322 of the Criminal Code (Canada), if the thing that was taken or converted was fuel that was pumped directly from a pump at a service station or other place that sells fuel at retail into a motor vehicle within the meaning of this Act;

Occupational Health and Safety Act

   4.  The Occupational Health and Safety Act is amended by adding the following section:

Employers' duties, service stations

   26.1  (1)  An employer who engages in the business of selling fuel at a service station or other place that sells fuel at retail shall require customers to provide a credit card, debit card, cash or other method of payment before the customer is given fuel from a pump.

Training

   (2)  An employer shall provide training about worker safety in accordance with the prescribed requirements to employees involved in the sale of fuel from a pump at a service station or other place that sells fuel at retail.

   5.  Subsection 70 (2) of the Act is amended by adding the following paragraph:

31.2 prescribing, for the purpose of subsection 26.1 (2), requirements for the training that employers shall provide to employees involved in the sale of fuel from a pump at a service station or other place that sells fuel at retail, including when the employees must receive such training;

Commencement and Short Title

Commencement

   6.  (1)  Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Same

   (2)  Section 4 comes into force six months after the day this Act receives Royal Assent.

Short title

   7.  The short title of this Act is Jayesh's Law (Worker Safety at Service Stations), 2012.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill amends various Acts with respect to worker safety at service stations and other places that sell fuel at retail.

The Employment Standards Act, 2000 is amended to prohibit employers from penalizing employees if a fuel theft occurs while the employees are working.

The Highway Traffic Act is amended to provide that a person's driver's licence is suspended if the person is convicted for an offence involving the theft of fuel.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act is amended to require employers who engage in the business of selling fuel at service stations and other places that sell fuel at retail to require customers to provide payment before being given the fuel.  The Act is also amended to require employers to provide training to employees involved in the sale of fuel at service stations and other places that sell fuel at retail.