Using tickets in employment standards inspections: Deterrence as effective enforcement in Ontario, Canada?

 It is widely agreed that there is a crisis in labour/employment standards enforcement. A key issue is the role of deterrence measures that penalise violations. Employment standards enforcement in Ontario, like in most jurisdictions, is based mainly on a compliance framework promoting voluntary resolution of complaints and, if that fails, ordering restitution. Deterrence measures that penalise violations are rarely invoked. However, the Ontario government has recently increased the role of proactive inspections and tickets, a low-level deterrence measure which imposes fines of CAD295 plus victim surcharges. In examining the effectiveness of the use of tickets in inspections, we begin by looking at this development in the broader context of employment standards enforcement and its historical trajectory. Then, using administrative data from the Ministry of Labour, we examine when and why tickets are issued in the course of workplace inspections. After demonstrating that even when ticketable violations are detected, tickets are issued only rarely, we explore factors associated with an increased likelihood of an inspector issuing a ticket. Finally, we consider how the overall deterrent effect of workplace inspections is influenced by the use or non-use of deterrence tools.</p

Optical Nanoantenna Input Impedance

Optical nanoantennas have been studied as a means to manipulate nanoscale fields, local field enhancements, radiative rates, and emissive directional control. However, a fundamental function of antennas, the transfer of power between a coupled load and far-field radiation, has seen limited development in optical antennas owing largely to the inherent challenges of extracting impedance parameters from fabricated designs. As the transitional element between radiating fields and loads, the impedance is the requisite information for describing, and designing optimally, both emissive (transmitting) and absorptive (receiving) nanoantennas. Here we present the first measurement of an optical nanoantenna input impedance, demonstrating impedance multiplication in folded dipoles at infrared frequencies. This quantification of optical antenna impedance provides the long sought enabling step for a systematic approach to improve collection efficiencies and control of the overall antenna response

Closing the Employment Standards Enforcement Gap: An Agenda For Change

Precarious employment is increasing in Ontario. A growing share of Ontario’s private sector employees earns low wages while a shrinking portion belongs to unions. These trends are fueled by changes in the structure of Ontario’s labour force. In many industries, including accommodation and food services, administrative services, and cleaning, workplaces are being transformed through greater use of contracting out, franchising, and extended supply chains. These ways of structuring work contribute to driving working conditions downward. </p

Expression of 5T4 in characterized cell lines.

<p><b>A</b>- Western blot of the four control cell lines representing high (H226), moderate (H1975), low (H2122), and no (H460) 5T4 protein levels. The 5T4 protein is associated with a molecular weight of 72 kDa. The 5T4 band densitometry was normalized against GAPDH. Note that H226 cells have the most intensely staining 5T4 band, whereas lower levels can be seen in H1975 and H2122 cells. H460 cells appear to contain no 5T4 protein as assessed using this technique. Data was generated as described in Materials and Methods. <b>B</b>- Immunocytochemistry of the four control cell lines representing high (H226), moderate (H1975), low (H2122), and no (H460) 5T4 protein levels. Note that H226 cells have clear circumferential staining of the membrane, which is diminished in the H1975 and H2122 cells, disappearing completely in the H460 cells. Cells were prepared and stained as described in Materials and Methods.</p

CTC metrics in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma blood samples derived from CD45-/CK+/DAPI+/5T4+ cells.

<p>CTC metrics in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma blood samples derived from CD45-/CK+/DAPI+/5T4+ cells.</p

Elevated expression of 5T4 in NSCLC tumor tissue as compared to normal.

<p>5T4 expression in NSCLC, measured in transcripts per million by RNASeq was obtained from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) Portal. Differential expression of 5T4 expression level in Lung adenocarcinoma (n = 526) and Lung squamous cell carcinoma tumor types (n = 501) were compared to their matched normal samples (n = 58 and 51 respectively). Significance was determined using ANOVA.</p

Spearman correlation between IHC H-score and various CTC parameters.

<p>Spearman correlation between IHC H-score and various CTC parameters.</p

CTC metrics by tumor grade.

<p>CTC metrics by tumor grade.</p

CTC metrics by tumor clinical stage.

<p>CTC metrics by tumor clinical stage.</p

Negative/Low, Moderate and High staining of NSCLC tumor samples for 5T4.

<p>Representative images from the analytical validation sample set of human NSCLC (squamous and adenocarcinoma) tumor samples designated as Negative/Low, Moderate or High for 5T4 expression, processed and stained using the IHC assay as described in Materials and Methods. Samples were selected from a prospectively collected cohort of 24 samples that had been analyzed for 5T4 expression using qRT-PCR and Western Blot analysis, and ranked according to 5T4 expression. The samples identified as Negative/Low using orthogonal techniques have small amount of staining, whereas the samples identified as Moderate and High demonstrate increasing intensity of staining with circumferential staining of cell membranes.</p