Canadian Payroll Reporter

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2019 News CPR | January 2019 Paid or unpaid leaves? at is the question While Ontario cuts back on paid work leaves, other jurisdictions embrace them BY SHEILA BRAWN AS a new year begins, payroll professionals in some jurisdic- tions have to get used to new la- bour standards rules for leaves of absence. Ontario, Quebec, and New- foundland and Labrador are expected to implement new requirements on Jan. 1. Other jurisdictions have proposed changes that may take effect later this year. A key element of the amend- ments is paid versus unpaid leave. While some jurisdictions are expanding paid leaves, one is pulling back from it. One of the provinces mov- ing towards more paid leaves is Quebec. Recent amendments to its Act respecting labour standards, slated to come into force on Jan. 1, require employers to pay em- ployees for the first two days that they take off each year for certain types of leave. The leaves include those that provide up to 26 weeks off work for illness, injury, organ or tissue donation, and domestic or sexu- al violence, and up to 10 days for family responsibility leave. Em- ployees are entitled to the paid days once they have at least three months of uninterrupted service with their employer. For each paid day off, em- ployers must compensate em- ployees at least 1/20 of the wages they earned in the four full workweeks before the day off, excluding overtime pay. For commission-based employees, the pay must equal at least 1/60 of the wages that they earned in the 12 full workweeks before the day off. Employers are not required to pay employees for more than two days of leave each year if they take more than one of the leaves in the same year for differ- ent reasons. Quebec has also implemented new bereavement leave rules that provide employees with two paid days and three unpaid days off if a close relative (for example: spouse, child, parent, or sibling) dies. Previously, employees were entitled to one day with pay and four unpaid days. Another change removes a re- quirement for employees to have at least 60 days of uninterrupted service to be eligible for paid time off when their child is born or adopted or there is a termina- tion of pregnancy in or after the 20th week of pregnancy. Employers must now pay all employees in these situations for two of the five days of leave allowed under the act. While the government that was behind the new measures is no longer in power, Quebec's recently elected government has not indicated that it plans to re- verse the changes. Newfoundland and Labrador has also added a new paid leave to its Labour Standards Act. Scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, it allows employees with 30 days of service to take time off if they or a person for whom they are a parent or a caregiver expe- riences family violence. The leave consists of three paid days and seven unpaid days in a year. Similar to other prov- inces, employees must take the leave for specific purposes, in- cluding receiving medical care, counselling, victim's services, or legal assistance, and relocating. see FEDS page 8 IT PAYS TO KNOW Professional Development Taxable Benefits & Allowances: Reduce Costs and Risk of Audits Providing employee benefits and non-cash incentives can be a win-win for employers and employees. But correctly managing and administering these benefits requires more finesse than many employers may consider. Employers, and payroll, human resource and accounting professionals can benefit from the Canadian Payroll Association's (CPA's) wealth of resources, including the popular Taxable Benefits & Allowances seminar. At the outset, employers should be aware that there is a difference between taxable benefits, allowances and expense reimbursements, which are often categorized as employee benefits. Each category requires understanding of federal, provincial and territorial legislation and regulations and entails unique administration. The CPA's Taxable Benefits & Allowances seminar reviews these important aspects and explores key concepts used by Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec to evaluate taxability and assess more than 40 common benefits, including automobile allowances, loan and stock options, gift cards and more. With over 25 Taxable Benefits & Allowances seminars between now and the end of June, there's bound to be one near you. Stay Current Stay Compliant payroll.ca Marty S., CPM - Member, Ontario Region Register online today at payroll.ca. Register early and save - Early bird rates available two weeks prior to the seminar.

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