Canadian Payroll Reporter - sample

April 2018

Focuses on issues of importance to payroll professionals across Canada. It contains news, case studies, profiles and tracks payroll-related legislation to help employers comply with all the rules and regulations governing their organizations.

Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/952464

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 11 of 11

April 2018 | CPR Lie detector tests prohibited in some provinces Quebec prohibits employ- ers from applying less-advan- tageous working conditions to employees doing the same work in the same establishment, based solely on the date they hired the employees. The con- ditions of employment covered include: wages; hours of work; rest periods; statutory holidays; vacations; leaves of absence for family or parental reasons or for sickness, organ or tissue dona- tions, or an accident or a crimi- nal offence; special clothing; and termination of employment. There are some exceptions, including differences due to se- niority or years of service, a spe- cial arrangement for disabled employees, and temporary con- ditions resulting from an em- ployer reclassifying or demoting an employee or from a business undergoing a merger or an inter- nal reorganization. Quebec's act respecting labour standards also prohibits employ- ers from paying part-time em- ployees at a lower wage rate than other employees doing the same tasks in the same workplace sole- ly because they work fewer hours a week. The prohibition does not apply to employees whose pay rate is more than two times the minimum wage rate. Paying employees who can- not be located: Most employ- ment standards acts include provisions setting out employer responsibilities when they can- not locate an employee to whom they owe money. While requirements vary de- pending on the jurisdiction, gen- erally employers are required to pay the amount owing to the employment standards direc- tor, who will hold the money in trust for the employee. Some jurisdictions specify a deadline for transferring the money to the director. Wedding leave: Quebec is the only jurisdiction in Canada that permits employees to take time off work for weddings under certain circumstances. Employ- ees may take a day off work with pay on their wedding day. They may also take time off, without pay, on the wedding day of their child, father, mother, brother or sister or of a child of their spouse. Lie detector tests: New Brunswick and Ontario prohibit employers from requiring or asking employees, including re- cruits, to take lie detector tests. The Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 Policy and Interpretation Manual said the government added the prohibi- tion in the early 1980s in response to a growing number of employ- ers implementing mandatory lie detector tests, particularly in pre- employment screening. Jury duty: While employers in all parts of Canada would be hard-pressed to deny an em- ployee a leave of absence for jury duty, only four jurisdictions — New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Northwest Territories — have included a right to time off for jury duty in their employment standards laws. The provisions require em- ployers to give employees time off work in order to serve on a jury or attend court as a witness. Employers may not dismiss, lay off, suspend, intimidate, penal- ize, discipline or discriminate against employees because they take the time off. The four jurisdictions do not require employers to pay employ- ees while they are off, although they may choose to do so. The legislation in New Bruns- wick and N.W.T. allows employ- ers who pay employees during a court leave to request that the employees reimburse them the amount of any jury or witness fee they receive, minus any amounts paid for travel, meals, or accom- modation expenses. Of note, Newfoundland and Labrador requires employers to pay employees while they are serving on a jury, acting as a wit- ness in a court case, or taking part in a public inquiry. The requirement is not in the province's Labour Standards Act, but its Jury Act, 1991. It states that employers must con- tinue to pay employees the same wages and provide the same ben- efits as they would have had the employees not been summoned for the court duties. Employers who fail to comply will face fines of up to $1,000 or, in default of payment, imprisonment of up to three months. In addition, they will be required to pay the out- standing wages and benefits. Sale or transfer of busi- ness: Employment standards laws in all Canadian jurisdic- tions contain provisions cover- ing employee rights in the event that their employer sells, leases, transfers or merges its business to/with another business. In general, the laws in all ju- risdictions state that a sale, lease, merger, or transfer does not in- terrupt employees' employment with their employer. This means that their length of service for de- termining entitlements such as paid vacations and notice of ter- mination does not change with new ownership of a business. Specific standards not affect- ed by an ownership change may vary between jurisdictions, with some provinces providing blan- ket coverage for all standards while others specify which pro- visions are not impacted. Ontario and P.E.I. have in- cluded an exception, with laws stating that continuity require- ments do not apply if more than 13 weeks elapse between an em- ployee's last day of work with the original employer or the date of the sale, whichever comes first, and the date that the successor employer hires the employee. from REVIEWING on page 12 Quebec permits employees to take time off work for weddings under certain circumstances. News Published 12 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $185 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 E-mail: customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com Website: www.thomsonreuters.ca 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@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Marketing Manager Robert Symes rob.symes@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9551 Circulation Co-ordinator Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 Payroll Reporter Can R Can R adian adian a www.payroll-reporter.com ©2018 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 Payroll Reporter — www.payroll-reporter.com • Canadian Employment Law Today — www.employmentlawtoday.com • Canadian Labour Reporter — www.labour-reporter.com See carswell.com for information

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Canadian Payroll Reporter - sample - April 2018