Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER JUNE 2019 NEWS 3 Legislative reversal in Ontario presents challenges for employers Bill 47 does away with personal emergency leave, 'causes confusion': Expert BY MARCEL VANDER WIER THE ELIMINATION of two mandatory paid emergency leave (PEL) days through Bill 47 has Ontario employers facing a tough decision, according to experts. In November 2018, the pro- vincial Progressive Conservative government implemented legis- lation through the Making On- tario Open for Business Act, 2018, granting workers eight days of un- paid absence for sickness, family leave and bereavement leave. Eleven months previous, the Liberal government had approved Bill 148, altering the Employment Standards Act (ESA) so Ontario workers were entitled to two paid PEL days off each year and a fur- ther eight unpaid PEL days, for which no medical documentation could be requested by employers. e legislative reversal means employers must now choose to either continue offering two days of paid sick time, or revert to the new minimum standard. George Brown College in To- ronto, for example, is removing the benefit for non-union faculty, while Humber College, also in Toronto, chose to maintain paid sick days, according to a Toronto Star story in March looking at the different approaches colleges are taking. e scenario has unveiled two very different schools of thought amongst employers, according to Ryan Wozniak, vice-president of legal at Peninsula Canada, an HR consultancy in Toronto. One employer group simply wants to abide by legislative mini- mums due to budgetary concerns, while the other group offers paid sick leave as a morale booster and retention tool, he said. "It really depends on the pulse of the particular workplace or the motivations of the particular em- ployer," said Wozniak. "As a gen- eral practice, it's good to provide for some flexibility so that your employees can take care of them- selves and your workplace is more productive… (but) it depends on your workplace and your opera- tional makeup." Unique business needs can see specific employers such as retail- ers or call centres highly affected by worker absence, while other or- ganizations may have more work- force flexibility, he said. Removing the benefit e eight days of unpaid leave legislated through Bill 47 include three days for illness, three days for family responsibility and two days for bereavement. Sick days are not pro-rated, meaning employees hired part- way through a calendar year are still entitled to the time away, said Wozniak. And employers may once again ask for reasonable evidence in the form of doctor's notes to demon- strate employees are eligible for the leave, he said. In Bill 148, Ontario employers had no choice but to fund two PEL days. Bill 47 allows them to remove that benefit and revert to previous company policy, said Wozniak. "The pendulum swing has caused some confusion for employers," he said. "It's hard enough to stay on top of your legislative obligations. And when you have a sudden shift like this, it can create additional confusion because the first shift often cre- ates confusion." For organizations that were of- fering more than two days of paid leave, it is very likely status quo going forward, said Michelle Ven- trella, HR director at Pivotal HR Solutions in Scarborough, Ont. "Many organizations were of- fering more than two paid, giving five paid," she said. "ose organi- zations are saying, 'Well, we're still going to pay for five because that's what we've always done.'" "If you're a really big company and you're exceeding anyways, then you're not really impacted that much." But for smaller companies that were mandated to offer PEL, re- verting to no paid leave could have a detrimental impact on employ- ees who may perceive it as a loss in compensation, said Ventrella. "A company that was paying for two… needs to think about the impact if they take away those two," she said. "As a general best practice, once an employee's been given a benefit of any kind, be very careful about taking that benefit away." e removal of paid leave does not apply to union workers, who almost always have some amount of paid sick leave negotiated into SICK > pg. 20 beyond A benefit program for the good times. WorkPerks ® is an exclusive discount program designed to enhance employee experience beyond the workplace. Talk to us today about how we can help to create a healthy, happy workplace. .com

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