Canada’s federal labour standards will be getting a face-lift with new legislation being introduced this fall. The changes will mark the first major revision of the code since it was originally written in the 1960’s.

Pioneers of the original Labour Day and the “Nine-Hour-Movement” back in 1872 lobbied for a shorter work week and led to the legalization of unions, 146 years later the vast majority of concerns from workers still surrounds restoring work-life balance.

During consultations held over the last year in Ottawa, a common theme that was raise was work-life balance. Other considerations will be made towards better protections for part-time and temporary workers, which were almost non-existent in the 60’s as most workers were employed with regular full-time hours and benefits.

Labour Minister Patty Hajdu, said that any changes to create better work-life balance or greater job protections will be aimed at employees with the most unreliable positions in federally-regulated fields.

Among the changes listed in the summary report of consultations was minimum wage reviews and a giving employees a “right to disconnect”, allowing workers to turn off their work-related devices while not on the clock.

The hope is to have legislative changes passed by this time next year, with consultations with employers and labour groups to follow, this all will need to conclude before the 900,000 federal workers in Canada would see any changes in the regulations.