Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 12, 2017 10 NEWS Compensation Surveys Incentive Programs Job Descriptions Job Evaluation Pay Equity Performance Appraisal Salary Administration Sales Compensation (416) 498-7800 www.resourcecorporation.com COMPENSATION CONSULTING and large, (it) definitely favours employees and favours trade unions, and most employers will see these recommendations ad- versely affecting their ability to do business in Ontario," said Richard Nixon, a partner at DLA Piper in Toronto. "Is this going to make Ontario a more attractive place for employers to locate their busi- nesses or expand their businesses? I say, emphatically, no." ese are potentially big chang- es the employer community will have to be ready for, said Craig Rix, a lawyer at Hicks Morley in Toronto. "To the extent that any of these major changes come about, I think that the HR community is going to be very busy helping guide their organizations in mak- ing sure that they fully understand the full scope and extent of what these changes mean to the way we do business." In hearing the report's recom- mendations, the Ontario Cham- ber of Commerce had called for a comprehensive economic impact analysis. "You can make legal and aca- demic recommendations, as the special advisors have done, that are based on interjurisdictional analysis, but the truth is that until you can answer with some confi- dence what the economic impact of any of one of these changes will be on our workforce, on our busi- ness, on the ability and desire of businesses to hire, then we are concerned it will have many un- intended consequences," said Karl Baldauf, vice-president of policy and government relations at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. But this is not about crippling the economy of Ontario, said Chris Buckley, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. "It's not about putting business- es out of business, this is about collectively, both labour and gov- ernment, working together to im- prove the lives of workers, not just unionize workers." Wynne said the goals for eco- nomic growth and improved employee rights are not mutually exclusive. "We have to make sure that businesses have what they need to keep growing, and we also have to make sure everyone in the province can benefit from that growth. at's not an either/ or proposition," she said. "Our plan rewards good employers (and) helps ensure responsible, law-abiding employers don't face unfair competition from busi- nesses that skirt the law and take advantage of workers." One area of focus involves en- forcement and administration. e province plans to hire up to 175 more employment standards officers by 2020-21. And by then, the employment standards pro- gram plans to resolve all claims filed within 90 days, and to inspect one in 10 Ontario workplaces. Leave extensions The government is proposing several changes around leaves, including the provision of three weeks of vacation after five con- tinuous years of employment. But five years is a long time for a person to wait, especially when people may change jobs several times during that time, said Buck- ley, in looking for advancement, better security or better income. However, that vacation means costs for employers, said Baldauf. "If a business has $500,000 committed to salaries and ben- efits, government can't legislate that that change, so the pie just gets smaller. And so maybe sala- ries decrease a bit, or costs for consumers go up." The report also said all em- ployees should be given personal emergency leave, which currently is only available when a workplace employs more than 50 people. e leave would include two paid days. "We've tried to strike a bal- ance," said Wynne. "e 10 days of personal emergency leave, we thought, within that, there has to be some support, there has to be some paid support, so we landed on the two days." But smaller employers just want people showing up at work to do the job, said Nixon. "It's the effect on an employer's productivity and ability to meet the demands of its customers that is going to be affected. Arguably, larger employers are able to find someone to substitute for some- one who's away. Are smaller em- ployers who employ three people, five people, seven people going to be able to do that?" Precarious workers Baldauf also has concerns about the changes around temporary workers. "You may be discouraging people from hiring as many folks. ey may be saying, 'OK, well I'm going to have smaller workforce.'" Many people do part-time work because they enjoy it and it's flex- ible, he said. "Part-time (work) is a good and positive component of a function- ing economy, and if we're discour- aging businesses from maintain- ing that as an option, then we're hurting students (and) a lot of people who are transitioning to- wards retirement, who choose that as the option." The government also made several proposals when it comes to scheduling workers. Employees can refuse to accept shifts without repercussion if their employer asks them to work with less than four days' notice. Employees who regularly work more than three hours per day, but upon reporting to work are given less than three hours, must be paid three hours at their regu- lar rate of pay. And if a shift is can- celled within 48 hours of its start, employees must be paid three hours at their regular rate of pay. at's all well and good, but it may encourage or discourage em- ployers from hiring students, said Nixon. "Be careful what you ask for, be careful here, because the law of unintended consequences may come into play." Bargaining and union rights e proposed legislation would also establish card-based union certification for the temporary help agency industry, the building services sector and the home care and community services industry. The government also hopes to make access to first-contract arbitration easier, adding an "in- tensive mediation component" to the process. And it would eliminate certain conditions for remedial union certification, allowing unions to more easily become certified if an employer engages in misconduct that contravenes the Labour Rela- tions Act. at makes sense, according to Buckley. "For far too long, it's been easy for employers to stall the pro- cess, it's easy for employers to put roadblocks up," he said. "We wanted to eliminate any road- blocks and get down to fair and equitable collective bargaining." e government is also pro- posing unions be given access to employee lists and certain contact information if a union can dem- onstrate it has already achieved the support of 20 per cent of em- ployees involved. "The combined potential changes to the union certification process should, if they were all ad- opted, create a rather compelling case for employers to be diligent in working hard to create a work- place that wasn't one that was ripe for organizing," said Rix. e proposed legislation would also allow the Ontario Labour Re- lations Board (OLRB) to change the structure of bargaining units within a single employer, if the existing bargaining units are no longer appropriate for collective bargaining. e proposed changes would also allow the OLRB to consoli- date newly certified bargaining units with other existing bargain- ing units under a single employer, if those units are represented by the same bargaining agent. "at's a power the Canadian Industrial Relations Board already has, and has had for decades," said Nixon. "Trade unions may be say- ing on the one hand that they're not satisfied but, frankly, this tilts the balance more in favour of trade unions than has been in the past." But it appears secret ballot vot- ing has been protected, which is a good thing, according to Baldauf. "That's something we think is very important to ensure that individuals have that right pro- tected, that they don't have to fear undue influence from union or- ganizers, so that's something that would be very beneficial." Additional changes e Ontario government is also proposing: • employees who hold more than one position with an employer and who are working overtime be paid at the rate for the posi- tion they are working during the overtime period • a new, separate leave for child death from any cause for a period of up to 104 weeks • increasing the family medical leave from up to eight weeks in a 26-week period to up to 27 weeks in a 52-week period • no longer requiring employees to contact their employer before filing claim under the Employ- ment Standards Act • expressly empowering the OLRB to conduct votes outside the workplace, including elec- tronically and by telephone • increasing maximum fines un- der the Labour Relations Act to $5,000 for individuals and $100,000 for organizations (from $2,000 for individuals and $25,000 for organizations). Extra vacation 'costly' for employers ONTARIO RULES < pg. 1 "Be careful what you ask for, be careful here, because the law of unintended consequences may come into play."

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