Dr. Michelle O'Sullivan:

Obviously, there are advantages and disadvantages. We noted in our report that the optimal way to sort out working hours arrangements is through collective agreements. That is always generally preferable to legislation. In the absence of those there will be complexities with having one-size-fits-all employment legislation. There might be some businesses that the bands suit and others where they would not. The important issues are that people are getting hours in which they are working and that the employment status issue is corrected. If legislation is introduced where there is a focus on the bands rather than on who it is protecting, I would anticipate a significant number of legal cases down the road where there is a question over who it is protecting, regardless of the number of bands. We are then leaving it to the courts, perhaps, to try to interpret who is being protected. We are concerned that, regardless of the bands, if-and-when workers might not be protected.