Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR March 9, 2015 News 3 chANges > pg. 6 Competence. Validation. Trust. HRPA is proud to introduce the CHRP, CHRL and CHRE designations. The new global standard for HR excellence and professionalism. The Certified Human Resources Professional, Leader, and Executive designations for HR professionals at every stage of their careers. Unleash the new gold standard: www.hrpa.ca/designations Changes to employment standards in ontario coming into effect in 2015 By SaRaH doBSon Changes to Ontario's Em- ployment Standards Act (ESA) coming into effect in 2015 could have a big impact on employers when it comes to areas such as ESA claims and wage recovery, working with temp agencies and record-keeping. "ey're certainly something that employers need to pay at- tention to and it's going to affect their administration of their em- ployment relationship. It's not just HR, it's also the payroll folks given some of the issues related to records that are going to flow from these changes," said Carl Cunningham, a partner at Ben- nett Jones in Toronto. With the Stronger Workplac- es for a Stronger Economy Act, 2014, the $10,000 cap under the ESA on the recovery of wages through a Ministry of Labour or- der to pay has been lifted. Before, the $10,000 limit stopped a lot of employees from filing under ESA. "In that scenario, (employees are) probably not going to go that way because you're taking a huge discount in what you're entitled to, so you have to go to court," said Doug MacLeod, principal at MacLeod Law Firm in Toronto. "With the elimination of that $10,000 cap… it's going to make the Employment Standards Act look more appealing in some circumstances." It's easier for a person to file a complaint with the ESA than go to court — people do not need a lawyer, said MacLeod. e Minis- try of Labour just assigns a person to investigate who then decides if the employee is entitled to the no- tice of termination or pay in lieu of notice or severance pay. From an employer's perspec- tive, this could mean more ESA claims, said Cunningham. "Because of that cap, you would have people going into courts, the civil system… small claims court." There might also be larger claims, he said, citing as an ex- ample the issue of overtime. "Even if it's not a class-action, I think people are paying more attention to overtime because of that, so now you don't have a cap on that… the employer doesn't have the safety net of saying, 'Un- der the ESA, my worst case is 10 grand.' "And you can easily exceed $10,000 once you get into sever- ance pay. So Ontario, unlike other provincial employment standards legislation, doesn't just have the termination pay component of up to eight weeks, it has this sev- erance pay which can go up to 26 weeks. So… for those individuals who are looking for a low-cost, quick access to justice mechanism, this may be material for them." e changes to the act also al- low employees to bring claims up to two years after the date wages became due. Previously there was a six-month time limit. Temp agencies The other big changes coming into effect in November concern temporary help agencies. e act introduces "joint and several li- ability" between temporary help agencies and client employers for regular wages, overtime pay, pub- lic holiday pay and premium pay for working on a holiday. is has huge implications, ac- cording to MacLeod. "Basically what it means is an employer can be ordered to pay an employee wages twice for the same work," he said. "Employers are going to be very careful about the kinds of tempo- rary help agencies they use. So they'll want reputable companies who've been around for a long time. ey may need to put some- thing in their contracts about personal liability as directors of a temporary help company so they can go after them." It's important for an employer to make sure it's dealing with a reputable temporary help agen- cy because the reputable ones will always ensure the burden of responsibility falls on their own shoulders — not their clients, said Marina Butler, president of Em- ployment Professionals Canada in Fort Erie, Ont. "You always have to protect yourself from those unscrupu- lous people and, unfortunately, the clients get hit as a direct result. Saving a penny doesn't necessar- ily mean you're choosing the right agency, unfortunately, and that's the bottom line. Some clients will choose to look the other way and then it'll catch up with them, rath- er than to pay the proper fees to ensure that you're getting the best agency to represent you." e revised act also requires clients of temporary help agencies to boost their record-keeping, in recording the number of hours worked by each temporary em- ployee, retaining or arranging for someone else to retain the records for three years, and ensuring the records are readily available for

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