Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 18, 2016 NEWS 9 Do workers need pet bereavement leave? Definition of 'immediate family' changing beyond traditional, say experts BY LIZ FOSTER MANY people are very fond of their pets and consider them furry members of the family. As a result, a number of organizations are starting to recognize — through extended leaves — the grief expe- rienced by employees following the loss of a pet. Shoppers Drug Mart considers pets to be part of the family and is flexible in its application of its bereavement leave benefit, ac- cording to Lana Gogas, manager of communications and corporate affairs for Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto. "Shoppers Drug Mart offers flexibility to employees who are dealing with a death in the family and this includes pets," she said. "Appreciating that each in- stance is unique, the employee and his or her manager can estab- lish an appropriate length of time away from the office to deal with grieving." In the United States, employ- ers such as pet insurance provider Trupanion, health and benefits company Maxwell Health, soft- ware company VM Ware and Kimpton hotels provide similar programs to employees, accord- ing to CBS News. Changing legislation While pets are excluded from the definitions of immediately family in both federal and Ontario em- ployment standards legislation, it is not inconceivable this exclusion could change, said Marc Kitay, employment and labour lawyer at Whitten & Lublin Employment Lawyers in Toronto. "ere is a growing movement to characterize animals as 'sen- tient beings' as opposed to 'chat- tels' and some jurisdictions have already begun moving in this di- rection," he said. "As the zeitgeist gradually moves towards treating pets as family members, and acknowl- edging the strong emotional bonds between pet and owner, change may someday find itself on the horizon." In December 2015, for exam- ple, the Quebec national assembly passed Bill 54, An Act to improve the legal situation of animals by announcing they are no longer property: "Animals are not things. ey are sentient beings and have bio- logical needs." It also said "the condition of animals has become a social con- cern," "animals contribute to the quality of life in Quebec society" and "the human species has an individual and collective respon- sibility to ensure animal welfare and safety." "Quebec was considerably be- hind in terms of animal welfare. is bill represents a positive leg- islative evolution that reflects ad- vances in our society," said Pierre Paradis, minister of agriculture, fisheries and food . Aligning policy with cultural changes To attract and retain the best tal- ent, organizations need to align policies and procedures with the workplace culture and make sure that culture is focused on issues most important to the people in the workforce they are attempt- ing to attract, according to Janet Salopek, partner and senior con- sultant at Salopek & Associates in Calgary. "We're challenging the defini- tions and starting to talk about a different outlook on how we have traditionally administered some of our policies and procedures," she said. "It's discussions like this that will help employers think about their policies, their procedures and how they're defining work when they write their policies. If we're trying to improve that level of engagement within our organi- zations we need to look at chang- ing our policies." One of those changes could very well be the inclusion of pets as immediate family under bereavement leave benefits, she said. "e definition is changing and it's evolving. Legislation is being very careful and organizations are being very careful that they're not discriminatory. We're broadening our definition of family to become more inclusive." Doing it right If an organization does decide to expand its bereavement leave to include pets, it is important for employers to remember expand- ing bereavement leave does not change the way the benefit is en- forced, said Kitay. "In Ontario, the (Employment Standards Act) calls for the em- ployee to provide evidence that is 'reasonable' in the circumstances, if the employer requests it. In SENSITIVITY > pg. 17 "We're challenging the definitions and talking about a different outlook."

• Cover