Ontario employment law has much in common with fax machines, eight-track tapes and the Polaroid camera — it’s hopelessly obsolete and out of step with current needs. Vintage technologies have been superseded by something better, but millions of workers still labour under an antiquated Employment Standards Act that provides inadequate protection.

This outmoded legislation is sorely in need an overhaul to meet 21st-century needs. People’s well-being is at stake.

Fresh evidence of that comes in a study released this past week showing that more than 40 per cent of work in Ontario is now done “outside of standard, full-time, permanent employment with a single employer.” In other words, for a great many Ontarians, there’s no longer any such thing as what used to be known as a “steady job.”

An increasing number of people now work part-time, or on contract, or are classed as “independent contractors” — designations that may allow employers to deprive them of basic gains such as overtime pay, benefits, regular work schedules, a modicum of job security, and a minimum wage.

“Workers are being forced to accept substandard conditions,” conclude authors of the study, titled Still Working on the Edge. This compelling 84-page analysis, including first-person accounts by struggling employees, was commissioned by the Workers’ Action Centre, a labour rights advocacy group.

Employers are able to take advantage of many working people because existing protections, under the Employment Standards Act, apply mainly to traditional workplaces offering permanent, full-time jobs. And such places have a dwindling role in the economy.

In a key recommendation, authors of the report call for expanding the definition of an “employee,” beyond the limited terms of the act, so that it covers everyone “paid to perform work or supply services for monetary compensation,” including those deemed independent contractors. That would be a welcome reform.

As reported by the Star’s Sara Mojtehedzadeh, other worthwhile recommendations include a $15-an-hour minimum wage and increased, and more aggressive, enforcement of the rules.

It’s important to note that not everyone in a non-traditional job is suffering. Workers equipped with skills that are in high demand, such as in the tech sector, can negotiate excellent contracts with a succession of grateful employers. But that’s of little comfort to people stuck in precarious employment, with limited skills or experience — especially young people and recent immigrants. Many of them are Ontario’s poorest workers.

The new report, and its recommendations, are particularly timely since Queen’s Park is in the process of reviewing the Employment Standards Act. According to Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn, that re-evaluation is specifically geared to updating the law.

As reported by the Star’s Richard Brennan, Flynn conceded that critics “absolutely have a point” in demanding change. And he estimated that the review process should take about 18 months, instead of “a two- or three-year study.”

That sounds promising. But any hope that meaningful recommendations might soon be put in place must be tempered by the fact that Queen’s Park has been aware of these issues for years yet hasn’t made a significant impact on the problem. Perhaps, this time, real reform is coming. Exploited workers surely need it now, more than ever.