Canadian Payroll Reporter

7 Federal Feds table target benefit pension plan bill The federal government is mov- ing ahead with a plan to allow federally regulated private-sec- tor employers and Crown corpo- rations to establish target benefit pension plans if they so choose. In October, Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled Bill C-27, An Act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, in Parlia- ment. If passed, the bill would provide a framework for estab- lishing, administering and su- pervising target benefit pension plans, which combines features of defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. The bill also proposes to al- low pension plan administra- tors to buy immediate or de- ferred life annuities for former members or survivors in order to satisfy an obligation to pro- vide pension benefits if the ob- ligation arises from a defined benefit provision. British Columbia New regulations created for reservists' leave The British Columbia govern- ment has created regulations al- lowing members of the Reserves in the Canadian Forces to take an unpaid leave of absence from their job for Canadian Forces training. The Reservists' Leave Regula- tion, which took effect Oct. 26, allows members of the Reserves to take up to 20 days off work in a calendar year for Canadian Forces training activities or for travelling to and from the loca- tion of the activities. The Employment Standards Act already allowed reservists to take time off, without pay, for Canadian Forces deployments inside and outside of Canada. Employees who plan to take a leave for Canadian Forces train- ing must give their employer at least four weeks' advance no- tice, and employers may require additional information. If the employee needs to ex- tend the end date for the leave, he or she must give the employer at least four weeks' notice before the proposed date of return in the original notice. If an em- ployee expects to return to work earlier than planned, the Act re- quires the employee to give the employer at least one week of advance notice. When the employee returns to work, the employer must reinstate him or her in the posi- tion held before taking the leave or in a comparable position. Newfoundland and Labrador Holiday list released for 2017 The Newfoundland and Lab- rador government has released a list of days to be observed as holidays in 2017 under the prov- ince's Shops Closing Act. The Act requires that all shops, other than those exempt- ed, be closed on the following holidays: New Year's Day Jan. 1 Good Friday Apr. 14 Easter Sunday Apr. 16 Victoria Day May 22 Memorial/Canada Day Jul. 1 Labour Day Sept. 4 Thanksgiving Oct. 9 Remembrance Day Nov. 11 Christmas Dec. 25 Boxing Day Dec. 26 The Act also designates as holidays Regatta Day in St. John's and Harbour Grace and any day fixed as a civic holiday by other municipalities. New Year's Day, Good Friday, Memorial/Canada Day, Labour Day, Remembrance Day and Christmas are also paid holidays under the province's Labour Standards Act. Northwest Territories and Nunavut WSCC considering legislative changes The Workers' Safety and Com- pensation Commission (WSCC) is considering amending the Workers' Compensation Acts (WCAs) of the Northwest Terri- tories and Nunavut to make them easier to understand and apply. "The WCAs are a major governing instrument for the WSCC, and we want to ensure they provide the most up-to- date framework to best support Northern employers and the care of injured workers," WSCC president and CEO Dave Grun- dy said in a news release. One proposal would modify the definition of employer in the Acts to exempt from regis- tration employers that operate in the territories for less than 10 days per year. The WSCC says this is already the case in prac- tice and that most other juris- dictions have similar provisions in their legislation. Another proposed change would broaden the WSCC's ability to enter into information- sharing agreements with orga- nizations such as the Canada Revenue Agency. Stakeholders and the general public have until Dec. 9 to com- ment on the proposals. More in- formation on the possible chang- es is available at http://www. wscc.nt.ca/about-wscc/stake- holder-engagement/current-en- gagement-opportunities/. Nova Scotia Maintenance enforcement amendments proposed The Nova Scotia government is proposing to amend the prov- ince's Maintenance Enforce- ment Act to give the Mainte- nance Enforcement Program more authority to collect court- ordered support payments owed to children and spouses, enforce court orders and locate parents who are regularly be- hind on their payments. Attorney General and Justice Minister Diana Whalen tabled Bill 44, Maintenance Enforce- ment Act (amended), in the pro- vincial legislature on Oct. 25. The bill would make a num- ber of changes to the Act, in- cluding authorizing the director of maintenance enforcement to issue garnishment notices for any amount for a payor's future maintenance obligations if the payor is persistently in arrears. This would be in addition to the director's ability to issue gar- nishments for arrears. Saskatchewan WCB consulting on rate-setting recommendations The Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) is consulting with employers and the public on recommendations to fine-tune the way it sets pre- mium rates. The recommendations stem from a review that actuarial consulting firm Eckler Ltd., car- ried out this year on the board's rate-setting model, in place since 1998. It uses an industry's his- torical claim costs, payroll and time-loss frequency trends to forecast all costs related to the next year's expected time-loss claims. The WCB uses the data to calculate the revenue it needs to fund expected claims' costs over a 50-year period. In a report on the review, called Review of the model to establish the premium rates, Eckler stated that the WCB's procedure for setting employer premium rates is sound and re- quires only refinements. It made 11 recommenda- tions, including focusing on classifying industries, using indicators to predict costs, al- locating fatality costs, pool- ing costly claims, dealing with long-term claims and allocating administration costs. Consultations will educate em- ployers and the public about the recommendations, concluding in mid-December. More information on the recommendations and the con- sultations is available at http:// w w w. w c b s a s k . c o m / w c b s - 2016-rate-model-review-rec- ommendations/. Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 CPR | December 2016 Legislative Roundup PM #40065782 Legislative Roundup Changes in payroll laws and regulations from across Canada

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