Canadian Payroll Reporter

7 ing two-thirds of Canada's popu- lation. Although the British Colum- bia government initially sup- ported the agreement, it later announced that it would hold consultations before ratifying it. Earlier this month, B.C. con- firmed its support. Bill C-26 would make a number of changes to the CPP, including raising CPP contribution rates a full percentage point from 4.95, and implementing a separate con- tribution rate of four per cent for employers and employees. Morneau says the changes will improve retirement income secu- rity for Canadians, reducing the number of families at risk of not saving enough for retirement. EI rates going down in 2017 Employment Insurance (EI) pre- mium rates will go down next year, the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) recently announced. For 2017, the rate for employ- ees outside of Quebec will drop from $1.88 per $100 of insurable earnings to $1.63. For employees in Quebec, the rate will decrease from $1.52 to $1.27. The rate for Quebec differs because of the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan. Employers will continue to pay 1.4 times the employee rate un- less Service Canada has approved them for a reduced EI rate. The maximum insurable earn- ings for EI will increase from $50,800 to $51,300 next year. As a result, the maximum employee EI premium payment will be $836.19 in 2017 for employees outside of Quebec. For those in Quebec, it will be $651.51. For employers with employ- ees outside of Quebec, the maxi- mum EI premium payment per employee will be $1,170.67 in 2017. For those with employees in Quebec, the maximum will be $912.11. Amounts will dif- fer if the employer has a Service Canada-approved reduced EI premium rate. The CEIC set the 2017 premi- um rates using a new rate-setting mechanism. Under the new process, the CEIC will set the premium rate each year at a level that is forecast to generate just enough premium revenue in the next seven years to ensure that at the end of the sev- en-year period, the EI Operating Account breaks even. EI premium reduction program rates announced The Canada Employment Insur- ance Commission (CEIC) has an- nounced the 2017 Employment Insurance (EI) premium rate reductions for employers taking part in the federal government's EI Premium Reduction Program. For 2017, the following EI pre- mium rate reductions (per $100 of insurable earnings) will apply: • Category 1 plans: $0.21 • Category 2 plans: $0.36 • Category 3 plans: $0.35 • Category 4 plans: $0.39 The category refers to the group to which Employment and Social Development Canada as- signs an employer, based on the type of wage-loss replacement plan the employer has set up. The CEIC based the reduc- tions on information in the 2017 Actuarial Report on the Employ- ment Insurance Premium Rate. The report, by the chief actuary for EI premium rate setting, pro- vides actuarial forecasts and esti- mates for calculating EI rates and maximums, including premium reductions for employers with wage-loss replacement plans who are registered with the Premium Reduction Program. Feds to table pay equity legislation The federal government will ta- ble pay equity legislation for fed- erally regulated workplaces by the end of 2018, says MaryAnn Mihychuk, minister of Employ- ment, Workforce Development and Labour. "Pay equity is a human right. Proactive pay equity legislation is one of the many measures our government is putting forward to help reduce the gender wage gap, which will strengthen the Canadian middle class and help the many women working hard to join it," she says. Mihychuk says the legisla- tion will require employers to regularly and proactively review their compensation systems, identify any gender-based dis- parities and take measures to address them. According to the Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada, in 2015 women in the federal private sector and Crown corporations earned 87 cents for every dollar men earned. The gender wage gap in the federal public service, calcu- lated as the difference between the average hourly wages of all men and all women, was 9.5 per cent in 2014-2015. Manitoba Government consulting on minimum wage The Manitoba government is asking for public input on how it should set the provincial mini- mum wage rate. The province's new govern- ment, elected last April, opted not to raise the general mini- mum wage rate in October, as the previous government had done over the last number of years. The current minimum wage rate is $11 an hour. The government is asking provincial residents to provide their views on the minimum wage online. Despite freezing the general minimum wage rate, the govern- ment went ahead with a planned increase to the minimum wage rate for security guards. As of Oct. 1, the minimum wage rate for se- curity guards licensed under The Private Investigators and Security Guards Act is $12.50 per hour. Ontario New compensation framework in place for public sector executives The Ontario government has implemented a new framework for compensating executives in the broader public sector, in- cluding capping salary and per- formance-related payments. The changes, which took effect Sept. 6, apply to all des- ignated employers under the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014, includ- ing hospitals, universities, col- leges, schools boards and gov- ernment agencies. They affect about 340 employers. The framework caps salary and performance-related payments for the executives at no more than the 50th percentile of appropriate comparators and prohibits sign- ing bonuses, retention bonuses, cash housing allowances and pay in lieu of perquisites. Designated executives include employees and office holders eligible to receive $100,000 or more in a calendar year, includ- ing CEOs, presidents, vice-pres- idents, chief officers, directors of education and supervisory offi- cers at school boards. Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 CPR | November 2016 Legislative Roundup from CPP on page 1 from page 6 except for those who are in a close family relationship with their em- ployer. The act currently applies to most agricultural workers in the province, except for those whose employer employs no more than three workers over a substan- tial period of the year (i.e., six months), excluding those in a close family relationship with the employer. The paper says the current pro- visions may violate human rights prohibitions on discrimination based on social condition, which includes source of income, level of education and occupation. "This exclusion has created an issue of fundamental fairness and equality for long-term employees of farming operations who are not covered by the act, while short- term workers, such as harvesters, are fully covered," it states. A spokesperson for the depart- ment says it is too early to com- ment on whether the government will amend the Employment Standards Act to implement any of the proposals put forward in the discussion papers. The department is now re- viewing the feedback it received and will determine whether to recommend any amendments to the government.

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