Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER December 12, 2016 10 NEWS HR Manager's Guide to Employment Files and Information Management: Legislation and Best Practices uniquely addresses the management of all types of employee information throughout the employment lifecycle, from recruitment to termination. Employment information and documentation management carries legal requirements that protect an organization from litigation, and are essential to the creation of sound policies for efficient, effective, and ethical business practices. Easy to read and understand, this new guide provides Human Resources professionals and others who deal with employee files, either electronically or in paper format, with: • Key legislation and emerging case law • Best practices in the areas of privacy, records retention, human resources information systems (HRIS), and information security • Practical guidance, tools and templates, such as sample policies • Information on all Canadian jurisdictions Know your legal obligations in managing employee files Available risk-free for 30 days Order online: www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Order # 986618-65203 $70 Softcover approx. 100 pages April 2015 978-0-7798-6618-2 Shipping and handling are extra. Price(s) subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. New Publication HR Manager's Guide to Employment Files and Information Howard A. Levitt, B.A., LL.B., and Tanya Neitzert, B.A., CHRP Brought to you by: © 2016 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00228VC-A49657-E98872 in and out of the workplace at her discretion during a specific paren- tal leave, said Kelly. "You can imagine the whipsaw effect that that would have on an employer, and if you do have someone that's trying to fill in — a contract worker, perhaps — you can't do that to people… It could be a mess." "It would be nightmarish for an HR person to try to implement these kinds of policies." It's stressful enough for an HR professional to navigate through individual paternal leaves, not knowing if an employee will re- turn to his position, he said. "ere's always a bit of a deep breath taken towards the end of somebody's parental leave," said Kelly. "is would create many more moments of deep breath. When an employee is coming in and out of the workforce, it becomes that much harder to plan." "At the very least, there needs to be some provisions with no- tice periods, so that the employee can't just come in and out of the workforce on a daily or weekly basis. e employer is owed the respect to have a plan put in place by the employee who's heading out on leave." If the government does imple- ment the parental leave changes as proposed, EI premiums will rise — eventually, said Kelly. "Right now, the proposal is to increase the length of time of the leave without increasing the ben- efits," he said. "My belief is the next step will be pressure to increase the ben- efits. at's the way that these things generally go. When that happens, the cost pressures on the EI system, as a whole, just rise." at's worrisome, as employ- ers currently pay 60 per cent of the premiums as opposed to 40 per cent by employees, said Kelly. Organizations should also pre- pare for changes in the way they top up parental leaves, said Nora Spinks, CEO of the Vanier Insti- tute of the Family in Ottawa. More than one-quarter of Ca- nadian companies (26 per cent) top up amounts paid by the gov- ernment during maternity leaves, according to a 2016 Conference Board of Canada report that found employees tend to return to work in higher proportions when a top-up is offered. Companies simply aren't ready for some of the changes slated for EI, such as the reduction in wait times from two weeks to one, or the right to request flex time, said Spinks. "at's going to be a huge issue," she said. "e question becomes, from an employer perspective: 'What are the conditions of your top-up program?' What we're hearing from the payroll people is it's more than a simple fix." e possible legislative chang- es could also see employers pon- dering the potential of extending the duration of wage top-ups, she said. Even unions recognize how impractical the proposed change is from the employee side of the equation, said Kelly. "There are not a lot of em- ployees that can afford to take 18 months off with the same amount of pay — it goes down to 55 per cent when you're on mat leave. So my concern is somewhat nullified by the fact that I don't believe that there would be a huge number of Canadians that would be taking up this provision." Offering more time away from work without increased mon- etary benefits may not yield high amounts of participation, said Stephen Moreau, employment lawyer at the Cavalluzzo firm in Toronto. "ere really isn't any evidence that extending parental leave longer is going to mean anyone's actually going to take a longer pa- rental leave," he said. "I think there will be a small uptake, there will be some effect but I think, overall, it will be very small." "If you're an employer, I think employers' groups might be exag- gerating the detrimental impact. On the other hand, if the goal of this change is to make changes and improvements for working people, then a marginal impact means very little benefit whatso- ever, which then begs the ques- tion: 'Why is this being proposed in the first place?'" Change needed While flexible parental leave may be a "Band-Aid solution," it is the best available solution to address a growing issue surrounding day- care shortages and limitations, said Alisa Fulshtinsky, founder of Toronto Mommies, an online Facebook group of more than 12,000 Ontario mothers. Because of restrictions in day- care programming — most day- cares only accept toddlers who are 18 months old and up — many mothers are struggling to mesh work with motherhood, she said. Mothers who have successive children may be forced to resign from their positions as many or- ganizations are not prepared to accept longer leaves — unpaid or otherwise. "It's been a growing problem for many, many years that now just got worse," said Fulshtinsky. "Millennials are having children, and they're the most educated generation we've had. It's becom- ing increasingly hard to combine work and life." In April, Fulshtinsky started a petition urging the government to fulfill its campaign promise to extend parental leave. e docu- ment has since garnered more than 91,000 signatures. "I feel like something imme- diate must be done," she said. "We can't switch everyone to an 18-month plan, but families could decide for themselves. It's both spouses that are in the situation — they could divide the time be- tween them." "I hate seeing women fall out of the workplace. I think, in the end, that hurts all of us. Going back (to work) five years after you've been out is always a huge challenge, but people do want to have kids. It shouldn't be an either-or. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do is leave those very educat- ed and qualified women in the workplace." is issue is also about the role fathers play in postpartum care or child nurturing, said Spinks. "ere is absolutely a need to modernize our current system of leaves and benefits to better re- flect today's families with young children and employees with caregiving responsibilities," she said. "We need to step back and un- derstand what is being suggested as potential changes. e intent of increasing the duration or the flexibility is to meet the needs of, or align better with, modern fam- ily experiences." "Employers need to be ready for modern-family realities. What we have before us is an opportunity to shape the next iteration of leaves and benefits related to family and family care." Be ready for 'modern-family realities' FLEXIBLE LEAVES < pg. 1

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