Canadian HR Reporter

PM40065782 RO9496 July 11, 2016 INSIDE HITTING THE TARGET 8 tips on how employers can improve their performance management systems Win for Suncor Drug and alcohol policy given second chance page 5 Volatile days CHROs talk about "learning to y" page 8 Whistleblowing How does snitching t in with employment law? page 13 page 11 Credit: Topher Seguin (Reuters) Discount Program Providers Proud Winner Discount Program Provider Instant access to valuable discounts, mobile and online, on everything from tickets and dining to shoes and travel. An award winning core element of a complete compensation and benefi ts strategy. Find out more... © Copyright 2016 Venngo Inc. All rights reserved. WorkPerks ® is a registered trade-mark of Venngo Inc. V1_20160621 .com/perks 1.866.383.6646 ext.202 the original perks company TM 201601621_hrReporter_9-75x1-75_Jul2016.indd 6 2016-06-21 3:46 PM PAY BOOST Melissa Blake, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, speaks about the re-entry of residents to Fort McMurray on June 1. Council voted to pay Blake $150,000 per year — up from her previous $123,000 — and three of its members to work full-time on a recovery committee, making them the highest-paid municipal councillors in Canada's major cities. The other seven councillors, whose positions are considered part-time, will see their pay rise to $75,000 per year from $36,000. Feds looking to provide fl ex arrangements Considering changes for federally regulated workers BY LIZ BERNIER THE federal government is con- sidering making changes to en- sure federally regulated workers have better access to fl exible work arrangements. The government is hold- ing consultations on proposed amendments to the Canada La- bour Code, which could affect the roughly 12,000 businesses and 820,000 employees who are feder- ally regulated. e government is also in talks with the provinces re- garding similar changes. More and more Canadians are struggling to fi nd the right bal- ance between their work, fam- ily and personal responsibilities, said Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk in Flexible Work Ar- rangements: A Discussion Paper released in May. "Developments in the world of work, driven by globalization, technological advances, evolv- ing work processes and the need to constantly upgrade skills, have made workplaces more complex EMPLOYERS > pg. 10 Misrepresentation of benefi ts leads to $93,000 for worker Denied higher, expected LTD rate BY SARAH DOBSON M I S R E P R E S E N T A T I O N of benefits can be a serious — and costly mistake — whether intentional or not, as one employer found out recently when it was ordered to pay $83,000 in compensation and $10,000 for aggravated damages to an employee seeking long-term disability benefi ts. e case is a warning to em- ployers that they need to be care- ful about what they're communi- cating to applicants as part of the BY > pg. 16 All Ontario employees need accessibility training As of July 1, mandate extends to all employers BY LIZ BERNIER AS OF July 1, employers in On- tario are mandated to provide training around accessibility to all staff , rather than only those who deal with the public. e change comes as a result of the provincial government's re- view of the customer service sec- tion of the Access for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), which began in 2013 and was re- leased in June. Employers must now ensure all employees and volunteers within an organization are trained on how to provide accessible service. When addressing AODA re- quirements, employers should have a long-term view of how to implement training and other changes, said Edie Forsyth, co- founder and corporate director of Accessibility Experts in Oshawa, Ont. "You have to have a multi-year plan that shows how this rolls out," she said. "The training piece is really important and our government of Ontario has laid it out really well. First, they did the customer service standard and that was all about how you interact with peo- ple with disabilities. So you got to learn diff erent disability types, and what their needs are. And then they followed that with the next set of standards, which is the integrated accessibility standards regulation." GREATER > pg. 6

• Cover