Review of the Forestry Workers Lien for Wages Act : Examen de la Loi sur le privilege des travailleurs forestiers portant sur leur salaire : rapport final

The mandate of the LCO is to recommend law reform measures to enhance the legal system’s relevance, effectiveness and accessibility; improve the administration of justice through the clarification and simplification of the law; consider the use of technology to enhance access to justice; stimulate critical legal debate; and support scholarly research. [...] DISCLAIMER The opinions or points of view expressed in our research, findings and recommendations do not necessarily represent the views of our funders, the Law Foundation of Ontario, the Ministry of the Attorney General, Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Law Society of Upper Canada, of our supporters, the Law Deans of Ontario, or of York University, or of the members of the Law School Group or Com [...] The Forestry Workers Lien for Wages Act (FWLWA or the Act) is a classic example of legislation that has fallen victim to changing times.1 The Act provides forestry workers with a lien over the wood they work on for the amount owing to them for their work.2 The Act dates back to 1891 and was intended as a form of wage protection for loggers cutting timber in the northern Ontario bush.3 Today, the A [...] This Report considers the policy rationale behind the Act in light of the changes to the logging industry over the last century and identifies numerous legal issues raised by the Act in the context of the modern industry and Ontario’s commercial law framework. [...] For example, the deadline for logging employees doing winter labour is the April 30th after the work is done, whereas the deadline for logging employees doing summer labour is 30 days after the work is done.15 The presumption here is that loggers working in the bush over the winter have difficulty leaving camp to file a lien claim.