Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

March 21, 2018 Published weekly by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com 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 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7896 News Editor: Marcel Vander Wier marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7837 Sales Manager: Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Circulation Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd 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). Lesser-known employment standards Wedding leave, lie detector tests and jury duty among regulations BY SHEILA BRAWN For all the dramatic changes recently being imple- mented in provinces such as Alberta and Ontario — with new legislation around safety, labour or em- ployment standards — there are some rules that don't get as much attention from human resources and payroll — but are still important to know: Wedding leave: Quebec is the only jurisdiction in Canada that permits employees to take time off work for weddings — under certain circumstances. Employees may take a day off work with pay on their wedding day. Employees may also take time off, without pay, on the wedding day of their child, father, mother, brother, sister or of a child of their spouse. Lie detector tests: New Brunswick and On- tario prohibit employers from requiring or asking employees, including recruits, to take lie detector tests. e Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 Policy and Interpretation Manual said the govern- ment added the prohibition in the early 1980s in response to a growing number of employers imple- menting mandatory lie detector tests, particularly in pre-employment screening. Jury duty: While employers in all parts of Can- ada would be hard-pressed to deny an employee a leave of absence for jury duty, there are actually only four jurisdictions — New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories — that have included an employee's right to time off for jury duty in employment stan- dards laws. e provisions require employers to give em- ployees time off work in order to serve on a jury or attend court as a witness. Employers cannot dismiss, lay off, suspend, intimidate, penalize, dis- cipline or discriminate against employees because they take the time off. However, the four jurisdictions do not require employers to pay employees while they are off — although they may choose to do so. The legislation in New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories allows employers that pay employees who are taking a court leave to request that the employ- ees reimburse their em- ployer the amount of any jury or witness fee they receive, minus any amounts paid for travel, meals or accommodation expenses. Of note: Newfoundland and Labrador requires employers to pay employees while they are serving on a jury, acting as a witness in a court case, or tak- ing part in a public inquiry. e requirement is not in the province's Labour Standards Act but its Jury Act, 1991. It states em- ployers must continue to pay employees the same wages and provide the same benefits as they would have had the employees not been summoned for court duties. Employers that fail to comply will face fines of up to $1,000 or, in default of payment, imprisonment of up to three months. In addition, employers in Newfoundland and Labrador will be required to pay the employees' outstanding wages and benefits. Sale or transfer of business: Employment stan- dards laws in all Canadian jurisdictions contain provisions that cover employee rights in the event that their employer decides to sell, lease, transfer or merge its business to or with another business. In general, the laws in all jurisdictions state that a sale, lease, merger or transfer does not interrupt employees' employment with their employer. is means their length of service for determining en- titlements such as paid vacations and notice of ter- mination does not change with new ownership of a business. Specific standards not affected by an ownership change may vary between jurisdictions, with some provinces providing blanket coverage for all stan- dards, while others specify which provisions are not impacted. Ontario and Prince Edward Is- land have included an excep- tion, with laws stating that continuity requirements do not apply if more than 13 weeks elapse between an employ- ee's last day of work with the original em- ployer or the date of the sale — whichever comes first — and the date the succes- sor employer hires the employee. Sheila Brawn is the editor of Canadian Payroll Re- porter. For more information, visit www.payroll-reporter.com. Credit: Ivonne Wierink / Shutterstock.com

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