Canadian Payroll Reporter

2 News Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 July 2016 | CPR Some requirements a challenge to harmonize from PLAYING on page 1 see FOCUS page 4 employers that want to use elec- tronic statements to provide em- ployees with confidential access to them. Nova Scotia currently has no labour standards rules governing electronic pay state- ments. In making changes to the record-keeping rules, the prov- inces did not completely rewrite legislative provisions. Instead, they added or reworded require- ments where necessary to make the majority the same across the three jurisdictions. For instance, once the amend- ments come into force, all of the provinces will specifically re- quire employers to keep records on employee vacation dates, va- cation pay due to be paid, statu- tory holiday pay due or paid and any period during which an em- ployee was on a leave of absence. While New Brunswick already specifies these records in its leg- islation, P.E.I. currently has no requirement for keeping records on leaves and neither P.E.I. nor Nova Scotia specify employers must keep records on statutory holiday pay. "These changes may sound small, but this is an area the busi- ness community has highlighted as overly difficult and complex," said Kelly Regan, Nova's Scotia's minister of labour and advanced education. "Businesses operating in more than one Maritime province should not have to waste time figuring out which records need to be kept in which province; they should be the same," she said dur- ing debate on the amendments in the Nova Scotia legislature. "Today, while the require- ments are similar in all three provinces, they are not the same. These differences can lead to confusion and an additional workload for employers. Some requirements are vague and have led to frustration and issues for both employers and employees," Regan said. "Aligning record-keeping re- quirements across the Maritimes will remove burdensome differ- ences and save employers time and money. It just makes sense," she added. Business groups, such as the Canadian Federation of Inde- pendent Business and the Atlan- tic Chamber of Commerce, say they are pleased with the chang- es, with the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce adding that there is "unanimous support" among its members for harmonized re- cord-keeping requirements. Not all of the record-keeping rules will be the same across all three provinces, though. Record- keeping rules that relate to labour standards requirements that are unique to a province will not be affected by the amendments. For instance, P.E.I. requires employers to keep records on overtime hours employees accu- mulate and use. The requirement relates to provisions in the prov- ince's Employment Standards Act that allow employees to bank overtime hours and take time off in lieu of overtime pay. Labour standards laws in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia do not address overtime banks, so there is no requirement to keep specific records on overtime hours. In addition to harmonizing records and pay statements, the provinces are aligning the date they implement minimum wage changes. This year, both New Brunswick and Nova Sco- tia raised minimum wage rates on April 1. Beginning next year, P.E.I. will move its minimum wage changes to April 1. "If the minimum wage is to change, that would take effect on the same date in the three prov- inces, so that will even things out in terms of doing business," P.E.I. Premier Wade MacLauchlan told the provincial legislature in May. "It doesn't require the rate to be the same, but the date." The provinces have not an- nounced whether they plan to further harmonize labour stan- dards, although a spokesperson with the Nova Scotia govern- ment says more changes are pos- sible. "Employment standards are high on the list to explore (for) alignment because the business community has identified it as a priority," says Andrew Preeper, a media relations advisor with the province's Department of La- bour and Advanced Education. While some requirements will likely be easy to harmonize since they are already the same or simi- lar among the three jurisdictions, those that are different may be more challenging, as a cursory look at some of the rules shows: Overtime: In Nova Scotia and P.E.I., employers have to pay em- ployees overtime if they work more than 48 hours a week. In New Brunswick, the threshold is 44 hours. The overtime rate in P.E.I. is 1.5 times an employee's regular wage rate. In New Brunswick, it is 1.5 times the provincial mini- mum wage rate. Nova Scotia uses a mix of both, depending on the type of work an employee does. Maternity/parental leave: Em- ployers in Nova Scotia and P.E.I. are required to give employees on maternity or parental leave the option of maintaining their benefits (such as health, dental, and life insurance) while they are off. There is no similar require- ment in New Brunswick. Sick leave: New Brunswick al- lows employees to take up to five days off, without pay, each year for sick leave if they have been employed by their employer for more than 90 days. Nova Scotia only allows for three days of un- paid sick leave, but has no quali- fying period. In P.E.I., employees may take up to three days off without pay each year for sick leave if they have worked for their employer for at least six months. Employ- ees employed by their employer for at least five years are also en- titled to take one day of paid sick leave each year. Statutory holidays: Holidays in the three provinces are similar, but not identical. New Bruns- wick does not have a statutory holiday in February, unlike Nova Scotia and P.E.I., although the government says it is considering creating one. The first Monday in August is a statutory holiday in New Brunswick, but not in the other two jurisdictions. Remembrance Day is a statu- tory holiday in New Brunswick and P.E.I., but not in Nova Sco- tia. The day is a holiday in Nova Scotia, but not under the Labour Standards Act, which means that employers do not have to pay employees who do not work on the holiday. Payment requirements also vary among the jurisdictions, with each province having differ- ent rules for determining who is eligible to be paid for a statutory holiday and how to compensate employees who work on holi- days. Vacations: While the minimum amount of vacation time for employees is the same across all three provinces, rules around when employees must take their vacation differ. In New Bruns- wick and P.E.I., employers must make sure employees take their vacation within four months of becoming entitled to it. In Nova Scotia, the requirement is 10 months. Employees in Nova Scotia and P.E.I. are allowed to waive their vacation time (but not vacation pay) if they work less than 90 per cent of the employer's regular working hours in the 12 months when they earn the vacation. New Brunswick's Employment Standards Act does not address waivers. Termination of employment: All of the provinces have gradu- ated required notice periods for employers ending an em- ployment relationship, but the parameters for them differ. For example, an employee with 10 years of service is entitled to four weeks' notice in New Brunswick, six weeks in P.E.I., and eight weeks in Nova Scotia. New Brunswick does not re- quire employees to give notice if they quit. Both Nova Scotia and "Employment standards are high on the list to explore (for) alignment because the business community has identified it as a priority."

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