Canadian HR Reporter - Sample Issue

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 17, 2017 2 NEWS Recent stories posted on www.hrreporter.com. Check the website daily for quick news hits from across Canada and around the world. WEB O N T H E ACROSS CANADA Trudeau, Couillard defend Bombardier aid after exec compensation rose last year 'ere is a kind of organized indecency at the top of big companies': PQ leader Robot job invasion: U.S. feds shrug it off, Canada feds fret... so who's right? 'It's not even on our radar screen': U.S. treasury secretary Quebec ready to ban cops from having second jobs after snowstorm debacle 'High-ranking police have an extremely demanding job to do and need all their attention to do it': Public security minister Nova Scotia tackles racial profiling in stores: 'It's about a societal transformation' Human rights commission launches free online training program Couple pleads guilty in temporary foreign workers case in Red Deer Charged with human trafficking; also failed to keep proper employment records, used false information Surrey Board of Trade in B.C. composes advocacy policy on marijuana 'We need consistency in regulations to avoid confusion, misunderstandings in applying accommodations': CEO AROUND THE WORLD British economy sends mixed signals as Brexit divorce begins For years, workers have seen pay eaten away by rising prices Japan sets out plan to raise workers' pay, tackle overtime Reducing hours may prove difficult due to lack of workers Robots seen taking 30 per cent of U.K. jobs with women at lower risk: Study Male workers more concentrated in jobs with lower education levels Black Lives Matter groups joining forces with wage activists 'Fight Racism, Raise Pay' protests to take place in multiple U.S. cities Racial discrimination Shazeen Azmi of the Ontario Human Rights Commission discusses how companies can tackle racism at work hrreporter.com FEATURED VIDEO Every two weeks Canadian HR Reporter hits the desks of HR management decision-makers across Canada. By providing real-world solutions to perplexing HR situations, we give you the tools and information to make more calculated decisions. STAY CURRENT. GET AHEAD. STAY AHEAD. To order your subscription call 1.800.387.5164 | 416.609.3800 www.hrreporter.com/subscribe Subscribe today for only $175 Order No. 20610-17 PM40065782 RO9496 September 5, 2016 INSIDE FIGHTING FRAUD Insurance fraud prevention requires a joint approach between plan sponsors and insurers CCHRA partners up Agreements with SHRM, CERC formalize relationships page 2 Pink hair Starbucks' relaxed dress code part of growing trend page 3 Mental health More integrated approach needed to help people page 13 page 15 ENFORCEMENT > pg. 8 Pokemon GO presents challenges for employers But risks can be managed eff ectively: Experts BY LIZ BERNIER POKEMON GO, the mobile game that's sweeping smartphones of the nation, has seen a meteoric rise in popularity. And just as the game has blurred boundaries be- tween public and private space, it has also blurred boundaries be- tween work and play. Many employees are taking the mobile game — among oth- ers — to work with them, and that has the potential to create issues for employers, according to Erin Kuzz, founding member of law fi rm Sherrard Kuzz in Toronto. Chief among the risks are safety and security concerns, and pro- ductivity challenges, he said. "When I turn my mind to the workplace issues that are raised by Pokemon Go and some of these related apps and games, two things are particularly glaring," said Kuzz. "Number one is the security is- sues where people are download- ing any kind of app or external game onto their phone, and that could be a phone that is used for work purposes — whether it's an employer-owned device or a BYOD (bring-your-own device) that's been approved for use in the workplace — it creates security issues." With Pokemon Go, there are counterfeit or non-genuine ver- sions that have been found to con- tain malware, she said. "When you have employees po- tentially exposing the employer's system to malware… it's an issue," she said. "Employers have to think about how they want to tackle this very quickly. "My advice would be to prohibit use of anything like that on a work device — because you just can't control what happens if someone downloads malware." Many of the risks are around cyber security, said Leah Fochuk, consulting services manager at HR consulting fi rm Salopek & Associ- ates in Calgary. "Because you sign up through Google, the app is really capturing a lot of sensitive data," she said. Companies that use BYOD of- ten deal in sensitive or confi dential information and defi nitely need to be aware of those risks. "Even when you're downloading it, if people are downloading the app not from offi cial vendors, the risk of introducing malware could potentially aff ect your entire net- work," said Fochuk. "On the IT side, there are some pretty big risks that would need to be managed." Also, there are potential safety hazards when it comes to distrac- tion or trespassing. "Players are practising distract- ed walking: eir heads are down, they're not necessarily seeing where they're going," said Fochuk. "As a company, you would hate to have something happen on your Ontario looking to make changes to labour laws Card-based certifi cation, precarious work, better enforcement among concerns BY JOHN DUJAY IN a massive undertaking, the On- tario government is looking to up- date not one but two labour laws with its Changing Workplaces Review. First proposed in 2015, the re- view would see the province's 1995 Labour Relations Act and 2000 Em- ployment Standards Act updated. "It's important our laws refl ect the realities of the modern econ- omy, and that's why we're consult- ing with people in communities across the province and reviewing our legislation," said Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn. Led by lawyer Michael Mitchell and former justice of the Ontario Superior Court John Murray, the review received more than 300 written submissions and met with various labour and employer groups. e co-chairs released an interim report in July. e 312-page report touches on a variety of issues relevant to em- ployers and labour groups. e Ontario Federation of La- bour (OFL) has been waiting quite some time for the changes, said OFL president Chris Buckley. "It's a springboard for a once-in- a-generation opportunity to bring sweeping changes to Ontario's employment laws and to make it fair for every worker across the province." If the exercise was to poke at as many of the issues as possible, it's achieved that goal, said labour and employment lawyer Craig Rix at Hicks Morley in Toronto. "What I see mostly in the re- port is a longstanding list of like- to-have proposals that have largely come from organized labour." Slap on the wrist for TTC's social media account Greater care needed: Arbitrator BY SARAH DOBSON THE Toronto Transit Commis- sion (TTC) found itself in hot water recently when an arbitrator ruled one of its Twitter accounts contributed to the harassment of employees and needed to be changed — but not shut down. In his decision, arbitrator Rob- ert Howe said social media sites operated by the TTC could be considered to constitute part of the workplace. And a number of the tweets on @TTChelps consti- tute harassment. "It is clear from the totality of the evidence that the TTC has failed to take all reasonable and practical measures to protect bar- gaining unit employees from that type of harassment by members of FIXED > pg. 6 INAPPROPRIATE > pg. 10 Pavlo Farmakidis (left), recruitment co-ordinator at Woodbine Entertainment Group in Toronto, and Mark Diker, senior manager of recruitment and talent planning, ran a job fair using Pokemon Go that attracted about 500 candidates. See page 18. Subscribe Today! CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-387-5164 ONLINE AT www.employmentlawtoday.com/subscribe Emplo y ment Law Today Canad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com "Things are happening at a pace that we've not been used to before, and some people will be left behind." Focus on skills training e 2017 budget commits $2.7 billion over six years to expand la- bour market development agree- ments with Canada's provinces and territories to finance a range of programs, including skills training. Workers are worried that rapid technological change, a "seem- ingly never-ending need for new skills," and growing demands on their time will mean their kids won't have the same opportuni- ties they had, said Morneau. As workplace demands con- tinue to change at a "dizzying" pace, so too must the education and skills workers bring to their jobs, he said. While there was a need for the budget to address the "huge skills gap" in the country, the final structure of the plan will need to be addressed alongside the prov- inces and territories, said Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress in Ottawa. "We'll wait and see as to how the government rolls this out," he said. "Despite the fact that a lot of money gets transferred to the provinces to make sure they're helping people fill this gap, the government continues to acknowledge that we've got a problem… with people not having the right skills," said Yussuff. "So if we're going to keep spending money in that direction, I think it's fundamental that we understand what we're getting for it." e government should pro- ceed cautiously in terms of its retraining efforts, said Nazareth. "It wasn't a ton of money, but that's not necessarily the way you would want to fix this anyway," she said. "I don't think anything works by having government fix it. If you look at the training programs… so far, unfortunately, there aren't as many success sto- ries as we'd like." "I would love to see a lot more training by employers. I under- stand why it's not happening, be- cause we have a climate where you think people will leave. ere's no loyalty on either side," said Naza- reth. "You have to rethink that and say, 'Maybe we have to talk about putting more into employees that we have.'" While the government can at- tempt to help by making dollars available for research, educa- tion and innovation, a collective mindset shift may also be needed amongst employers that are more apt to fire workers to ensure a healthy bottom line, she said. "Sometimes, there's an un- willingness to put money into research because it hurts the short-term bottom line. We've become really focused on quar- terly results." Boosts for education, innovation e government also announced plans to break down employ- ment barriers with a focus on skills development, training and education. The budget committed $287 million for a three-year pilot project aimed at testing new ap- proaches to student loan and grant rules to help more adults return to school. A further $132 million is being set aside to give Canadians the opportunity to pursue training while receiving employment insurance (EI). Work-integrated learning also received a $221-million boost, with the government hoping to add 6,250 additional learning placements for post-secondary students and graduates over the next five years. "As we create the jobs of tomor- row, we will support a culture of lifelong learning and skills training to help workers and their families adapt to the changing demands of our time," said Morneau. "We will help students get the skills and work experience they need to kick-start their careers." Another aim of the budget is to position Canada as a world leader in digital innovation, with an increased focus on sectors such as advanced manufacturing, agri-food, clean technology and digital industries. Over the next five years, $950 million will be in- vested in business-led innovation superclusters in hopes of recreat- ing the economic success of San Francisco's Silicon Valley, said the government. With an eye on the future, $50 million will be spent supporting organizations delivering digital skills training in the school sys- tems over the next two years. e government also commit- ted to reducing red tape facing Canadian innovators by consoli- dating related bureaucratic de- partments under the banner of Innovation Canada. Parental leave extended Another significant announce- ment in the budget was the ex- tension of parental leave from 12 to 18 months, with 12 months of payments spread over that time period. Expectant mothers will also be able to file for benefits four weeks earlier than the previous eight- week limit before their due date. e measures will cost $152 million over five years, and will lead to an increase in EI premiums beginning next year. Extending parental leave op- tions remains "a solution in search of a problem," and the popularity of the change is expected to be low, said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Inde- pendent Business in Toronto. "(But) I'm certainly not press- ing the panic button over this one," he said. "I don't think that (there) is going to be massive take-up of this overall. When someone's on maternity leave or parental leave, they are taking a cut in pay. Now, they're going to get less over a longer period of time and there's not that many Canadian families that can afford to take that amount of time away from the workforce." "It is a long time to be away from the workforce, and people's skills do atrophy after long gaps," said Kelly. "e budget makes a great point about trying to en- courage more female participa- tion in the workforce, and I'm hoping this doesn't create bigger gaps for some workers who are, more often than not, women." e option to extend parental leave will be welcomed by many Canadian families, said Yussuff. "We welcome it," he said. "Some families may take advantage of it. Child care is a big impediment for families having kids. Quite of- ten, people are quitting, thinking they're better off doing that for a longer period of time." But employers are on the los- ing end of this measure, and small businesses will be especially hard- hit, said Kelly. "If you're going to 18 months, that really can create problems on a practical basis," he said. "We al- ready have the problem with peo- ple taking leave and then, at the end of it, deciding to quit. Mean- while, the employer is twisting itself into knots to try and hire a contract worker, or perhaps make do without that person, and then they get the bad news that the per- son is not returning after holding the job open." Legislative changes mean an alteration of human resources policies will be in order, said Kelly. "Absolutely, there's going to need to be an update to all sorts of policies related to maternity and parental leave," he said. "In particular, for larger employers that perhaps have an employee top-up for maternity leave, what do you do now?" e rise in EI premiums was the "biggest negative surprise of the budget," said Kelly. "at's going to be a payroll tax hit for every Canadian worker," he said. "And for every employer, their payroll budget on Jan. 1, for each of the next six years, will go down. That's going to have an impact in terms of jobs, hours and wages. ere's just no way it won't. And employees are going to be looking to their employers to make up the difference at the same time the employer is going to be struggling to meet their own end of the bargain." Promoting gender equality The gender gap was also ad- dressed in Morneau's budget ad- dress, including the promotion of women to senior roles. The newly formed Canada- United States Council for Ad- vancement of Women Entrepre- neurs and Business Leaders will help remove barriers for women in business, he said. "We aren't taking full advantage of the talents, insights and experi- ence of more than half of our pop- ulation," said Morneau. "It makes no sense." e government published a gender statement that's meant to ensure all budget measures, not just those aimed specifically at women, will advance goals of fairness, stronger workforce par- ticipation and gender equality. Part of the overall attempt to get more women into the workforce includes a $7-billion commitment to ease child-care costs over the next decade as the government aims to create 40,000 new subsi- dized daycare spaces across Can- ada in the next three years. Other budgetary items of note for employers include: the ability for federally regulated workers to request flexible work arrange- ments; a $13-million commitment to investigations of wage theft; banning unpaid internships unless they are connected with a formal education program; and enabling employers to provide electronic T4s as standard delivery method. Workplace changes 'dizzying' BUDGET < pg. 1 "ere's going to need to be an update to all sorts of policies related to maternity and parental leave."

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