Canadian Payroll Reporter

7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2019 Legislative Roundup Canadian Payroll Reporter Among the changes are mea- sures that will give federally reg- ulated employees three weeks of vacation, paid at six per cent of their wages, after five years of employment instead of six years. Employees with at least 10 years of employment will be entitled to a minimum of four weeks' va- cation, paid at eight per cent of their wages. Another change will eliminate a requirement that employees be employed for at least 30 days before becoming entitled to paid statutory holidays. Other amendments will give employees a 30-minute unpaid break during every five consecu- tive hours of work and a mini- mum eight-hour rest period be- tween shifts. New leave provisions will al- low employees to take up to five days off each year for personal leave, with the first three days paid for those with at least three months of service. The amendments will also re- quire employers to pay employ- ees with at least three months of service for the first five days of family violence leave they take each year. Amendments passed in 2017, but not yet enacted, will provide for a 10-day family vio- lence leave. The amount of notice for an individual termination will change from two weeks after three months of employment to a graduated system based on length of service. The maximum notice will be eight weeks after eight consecutive years of work. In addition, employers will have to give terminated employ- ees a written statement identify- ing their wages, vacation ben- efits, severance pay, and other benefits and pay arising from their employment as of the state- ment date. The bill will also implement a new EI Parental Sharing Benefit that will provide extra weeks of EI benefits when parents agree to share parental leave. It will also create new pay eq- uity rules for federally regulated workplaces, requiring those with at least 10 employees to establish and maintain a pay equity plan within three years of becoming subject to the legislation. Specific in-force dates for the amendments are not yet clear. Alberta Youth employment rules updated On Jan. 1, the Alberta govern- ment implemented new rules for hiring young people that restrict the type of work that children under 13 years old may do. As a result, children 12 years and younger may only work in artistic endeavours, such as film, stage, and television produc- tions, if their parent/guardian consents to it and employment standards issues a permit for the work. Restrictions on work hours and any other terms of employ- ment will be determined during the permit approval process. The new requirements do not apply to volunteering, farm and ranch work, or casual work, such as babysitting or lawn mowing. Employment rules for youth ages 13 years and older remain unchanged, the Ministry of La- bour said. New Brunswick ree-day wait for workers' compensation benefits eliminated The New Brunswick legislature has passed legislation that will gradually eliminate a three-day unpaid waiting period that in- jured workers must serve before receiving workers' compensa- tion benefits. Bill 2, An Act Respecting Ad- dressing Recommendations in the Report of the Task Force on WorkSafeNB, which received royal assent on Dec. 12, will phase in the elimination between July 1, 2019 and July 1, 2021. The province's workers' com- pensation law prohibits injured employees (with some excep- tions) from receiving any em- ployment-related remuneration or workers' compensation ben- efits for three working days after an injury in order to qualify for WorkSafeNB benefits. With the new legislation, the waiting period will be reduced to two working days from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. From July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, it will be one working day. On July 1, 2021, the wait pe- riod will be eliminated. Newfoundland and Labrador Family violence leave rules in effect New labour standards rules that provide up to 10 days off work for family violence leave came into effect on Jan. 1. Under the new requirements, employers must pay employees for three of the days. To be eligible for the leave, employees must have at least 30 days of service with their employer and they or a person for whom they are a parent or a caregiver must be directly or indirectly subjected to, a victim of, impacted by, or seriously af- fected by family violence or have witnessed it. Employees can only use the leave for certain purposes, in- cluding to seek medical atten- tion, obtain services from a victim's services organization, obtain counselling, move, or ob- tain legal services or assistance. To calculate employees' pay for the three paid days, employ- ers must multiply the employees' hourly rate by the average num- ber of hours they worked in the three weeks before the leave. Other changes require em- ployers to keep all information related to any labour standards leaves confidential, unless the employee gives consent for the information to be disclosed, the disclosure is required by law, or the employer or a person they employ needs to disclose the information to administer the leave. Nova Scotia New employee leave rules in place On Jan. 1, the Nova Scotia gov- ernment implemented new rules affecting employee leaves of absence under the province's Labour Standards Code. Employees with at least three months of service are now al- lowed to take time off work if they or their child under 18 is a victim of domestic violence. Employees can only use the leave for certain purposes, such as to seek medical attention, ob- tain services from a victim ser- vices organization, obtain psy- chological or other professional counselling, relocate, or seek le- gal or law enforcement help. The leave consists of up to 10 days and up to 16 weeks each cal- endar year. The employee may take the 10-day leave intermit- tently or continuously, but must take the 16 weeks off in one con- tinuous period. Employers are required to pay employees for up to three days of leave each year. Employees can choose which of the days they want as paid days by notifying their employer in writing. If they fail to do this, the employer must treat the first three days off as paid days. The government also imple- mented new rules that eliminate the eligibility period employees must serve before taking preg- nancy and parental leaves. Other changes require em- ployers to keep all matters re- lated to leaves confidential. Employers are prohibited from disclosing information unless they have the employee's written consent to do so, or unless they must disclose information to employees or agents who need it to perform their job duties, or the disclosure is required by law. Prince Edward Island New employment standards rules now apply The P.E.I. government recently implemented new rules that ex- pand a number of leaves allowed under employment law. Beginning Dec. 29, the length of parental leave increased from 35 weeks to 62 weeks, and the length of adoption leave rose from 52 weeks to 62 weeks. The total amount of maternity/pa- rental/adoption leave that one or two employees may take for the same child increased from 52 weeks to 78 weeks. The length of compassion- ate care leave has also gone up, rising from eight weeks to 28 weeks. The government has also reduced the eligibility period for sick leave from six months to three months. from OMNIBUS on page 1

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