Payroll Reporter
Can
R
Can
R
adian adian a
www.payroll-reporter.com
July 2018
Alberta
New youth hiring rules planned
The Alberta government is preparing to implement new require-
ments for employers hiring employees under 18 years old. The
changes are part of Employment Standards Code amendments
passed last year.
With the amendments, the minimum working age will rise from
12 years to 13 years, although children under 13 will be allowed to
An 'incomprehensible failure'
Auditor general's report on troubled Phoenix pay system o ers lessons for all
BY SHEILA BRAWN
"THE PHOENIX project was an incomprehensible
failure of project management and project over-
sight."
"B efore implementing Phoenix, Phoenix execu-
tives did not ensure that it could properly process
pay. When the system was put in place, it could not
perform some critical pay functions, such as pro-
cessing requests for retroactive pay."
"The department knew about many of these criti-
cal weaknesses before implementing the Phoenix
system. In our opinion, these weaknesses were se-
rious enough that the system should not have been
implemented."
These comments come from a recently released
report by Canada's auditor general Michael Fergu-
son, describing how the federal government failed
to properly manage its plan to implement a new pay
system for its 290,000 employees.
It is his second report on the troubled Phoenix
project, which the government began in 2009 and
implemented in two waves in 2016.
The report is critical of decisions taken by the
project's executives, saying: "The Phoenix pay sys-
tem is less efficient and less cost-effective than the
see ROUNDUP page 7
PM
#40065782
Legislative Roundup
Changes in payroll laws and regulations
from across Canada
see ESA page 6
Credit:
Marc
Bruxelle
(Shutterstock)
Ontario holiday pay
goes back to the future
Province temporarily reverts back to
previous public holiday pay formula
BY SHEILA BRAWN
AS OF July 1, it is déjà vu for Ontario payroll professionals when it
comes to calculating public holiday pay.
From July 1 until the end of 2019, the Ontario Ministry of Labour is
temporarily reverting to the public holiday pay formula in place before
Jan. 1, while it reviews the province's public holiday pay system.
see CONSULTATION page 2
News in Brief pg. 4
ADP Canada named Senate's payroll
provider| Revenu Québec alters salary
overpayment policy | CNESST maintains
average assessment rate
Breaking down
obscure terms pg. 3
Payroll terminology may
seem similar, but
differences are major
Ask an Expert pg. 5
Do new hires on three months
probation get paid for
statutory holidays for which
they do not work?
