Canadian Payroll Reporter

News January 2019 | CPR News Feds expected to implement paid leaves this year from LEAVES on page 3 Published 12 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $189 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) E-mail: customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com Website: www.payroll-reporter.com One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Todd Humber Editor Sheila Brawn sbrawn@rogers.com Editor/Supervisor Sarah Dobson News Editor Marcel Vander Wier Sales Manager Paul Burton paul.burton@tr.com (416) 649-9928 Marketing & Audience Development Manager Robert Symes rob.symes@tr.com (416) 649-9551 Circulation Co-ordinator Keith Fulford keith.fulford@tr.com (416) 649-9585 Payroll Reporter Can R Can R adian adian a www.payroll-reporter.com ©2019 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-7798-2810-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Return Mail Registration # 1522825 | Return Postage Guaranteed Paid News Revenue Toronto Canadian Payroll Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications: • Canadian HR Reporter — www.hrreporter.com • Canadian Occupational Safety magazine — www.cos-mag.com • Canadian Safety Reporter — www.safety-reporter.com • Canadian Employment Law Today — www.employmentlawtoday.com • Canadian Labour Reporter — www.labour-reporter.com • Canadian Payroll Reporter — www.payroll-reporter.com To calculate pay for the three paid days, payroll administra- tors must multiply the employ- ee's hourly rate by the average number of hours the employee worked in a day in the three weeks right before the leave. Other provinces that provide paid time off for domestic or sexual violence include Mani- toba (five days), New Brunswick (first five days), Ontario (first five days), and Quebec (first two days). Alberta and Saskatche- wan also have domestic violence leaves, but there is no require- ment to pay employees. More jurisdictions are ex- pected to add domestic violence leave to their labour standards laws this year. Prince Edward Island has passed — but not yet implemented — amendments that would allow eligible em- ployees to be paid for three of 10 days of leave in a year. Nova Scotia may also add pay requirements for domestic violence leave. Last spring, the province's legislature passed amendments to create a two- pronged leave for employees who are victims of domestic vio- lence or whose child is a victim. The leave would consist of up to 10 days — which employees could take all at once or inter- mittently — and up to 16 weeks, taken in one continuous period. While the legislation, which has not been implemented yet, states that the leave would be unpaid, the government has in- dicated that it may change this. When a legislative committee studied the amendments, oppo- sition party members suggested that the first five days of leave be paid. Although the government did not amend the bill to require paid leave, it included a provi- sion allowing pay requirements to be added through regulations under the Labour Standards Code. Labour and Advanced Edu- cation Minister Labi Kousoulis said the Nova Scotia govern- ment may hold public consul- tations to determine if there should be a pay requirement and that regulations would be an easy way to implement it. "If after doing public consul- tation, whatever the process and the outcomes are, the amend- ment can happen a lot more quickly (through regulation), then (sic) having to come into the legislature," he said. The federal government is also expected to implement new paid leaves this year. In the fall, it tabled legislation that would require federally regulated em- ployers to pay employees for the first three of five days off per year for personal leave if they have at least three consecutive months of employment with their employer. The leave would allow em- ployees job-protected time off work to deal with illnesses/ injuries or family responsibili- ties, or to attend their citizenship ceremony. The pay for the time off would be their regular rate for their normal work hours. Other amendments would provide up to 10 days off a year for family violence leave, with employers required to pay em- ployees for the first five days if they had at least three months of service. In addition, the proposed leg- islation would enhance some existing leaves. For instance, the government would expand the length of parental leave from 63 weeks to 71 for parents who share the leave under a proposed new EI parental shar- ing benefit. New bereavement leave rules would allow employees to take five days off — up from three days — if an immediate fam- ily member died. The first three days would continue to be paid for employees with at least three months of service. The new/enhanced leaves would be in addition to a leave for traditional Aboriginal prac- tices passed in 2017, but not yet enacted. It would allow Ab- original employees with at least three months of service to take up to five days off each year to take part in traditional practic- es, such as hunting, fishing and harvesting. One province that is going a different way with paid leave is Ontario. As of Jan. 1, it eliminated a re- quirement that employees have 10 days of personal emergency leave each year, with the first two days paid for those with more than one week of service. It replaced the time off with three days of sick leave, three days of family responsibility leave, and two days of bereave- ment leave. Unlike personal emergency leave (PEL), employ- ers are not required to pay em- ployees for any of the days off. Business groups applauded the change, saying that the paid days off implemented last year by the previous government were too onerous and hurt busi- nesses financially. Workers' rights advocates, however, said the change was detrimental to employees and could force some of them to go to work while sick. While other jurisdictions have not announced new paid leaves, some are considering changes affecting unpaid leaves. Yukon is examining whether to give employees more time off for parental leave and compas- sionate care leave and whether to add a new leave for critically ill adult family members. British Columbia is planning to update its rules to reflect the changing nature of work, but has not indicated whether it plans to expand existing leaves, introduce new ones or require employers to pay employees for some of the days of leave. More jurisdictions are expected to add domestic violence leave to their labour standards this year.

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