Canadian Employment Law Today - sample

Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017 August 16, 2017 | Canadian Employment Law Today CREDIT: ANDRES GARCIA MARTIN/SHUTTERSTOCK ABOUT THE AUTHORS Laura Williams Laura Williams is the founder and principal of Williams HR Law, a human resources law firm in Markham, Ont., serving employers exclusively. She can be reached at (905) 205-0496 or lwilliams@williamshrlaw.com. six per cent vacation pay after five years of service with the same employer — up from the current two weeks and four per cent — effective Jan. 1, 2018. In addition, all employees would be entitled to 10 days of personal emergency leave (PEL), two of which would be paid. is will apply to organizations of all sizes, a change from current ESA requirements that provide the entitlement to staff of companies with more than 50 employees. PEL scope would be expanded to include employees experi- encing domestic or sexual violence, or the threat of domestic or sexual violence. e current grounds for taking PEL are limited to: illness, injury or a medical emergency experienced by the employee; the death, illness, injury or medical emergency of certain family members; and urgent mat- ters related to certain family members. e government is also changing rules to do with employee sick notes. Under Bill 148, organizations will still be able to request evidence of PEL entitlement; how- ever they will be prohibited from request- ing a sick note for any employee taking PEL for up to 10 days. How it will impact employers: Under- staffed organizations may be placed under even greater pressure to meet client obli- gations, but in the long term, changes to paid vacation entitlements will likely have a positive impact on most organizations which have kept entitlement to two weeks and four per cent. I've long argued that organizations that promote work-life bal- ance tend to have more productive, inno- vative and engaged employees. is policy change should help further that goal. e effective banning of sick notes and the expansion of PEL entitlements is an- other matter. With the former, organiza- tions will now be hamstrung when it comes to determining whether employees are genuinely ill when they take time off and, arguably, whether the employee can be accommodated to return to work where an earlier return may be possible. Smaller organizations will also be required to pay employees for two days of PEL, which may have an adverse bottom-line impact. Labour relations Proposed changes on the labour relations front are no less significant. Bill 148 would simplify the union certification process by removing certain conditions for remedial union certification in cases of employer misconduct, allowing the Ontario La- bour Relations Board (OLRB) to conduct votes outside the workplace and allowing unions easier access to employee lists and contact details when they achieve 20 per cent support for a union drive. In addition, employees currently limited to vote-based certification — such as temporary help agency, home care, building services and community services industry workers — would be allowed to unionize using card- based certification. Lastly, the OLRB would be able to change bargaining unit structures in cases where existing bargaining units are deemed in- appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining. is represents a departure from current rules that require a voluntary agreement between a bargaining unit and the employer before changes can be made. How it will impact employers: Union- izing would become far easier in Ontario, adding incentives for employees to launch union drives, even if certification is un- likely. e caveat here is that unionization tends only to happen across organizations where engagement levels are demonstra- bly weak. Employees working for progres- sive employers tend to shun unionization altogether. In that sense, organizations should focus on employee engagement activities to build stronger workplace cul- tures — a positive outcome that would benefit both employers and employees across the province.

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