Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 CANADIAN HR REPORTER WEEKLY BY SARAH DOBSON With the arrival of the new year, Alberta employers have plenty on their plates, what with changes to the province's regulations around health and safety, workers' compensa- tion, labour relations and employment standards. When it comes to the new standards, there are several new unpaid leaves and provisions that will definitely have an impact. So if employers are not yet prepared, they should get started, say experts. e number of leaves is substantial, as Alberta catches up to many of the other provinces, said Birch Miller, a partner at Blakes in Calgary. "Many employers know these changes are coming but haven't really delved into what they are," she said. "ese are employee-friendly changes, on the whole, and employers are going to struggle, at first, in understanding them because there's so many and it's not necessarily easy to understand them; and then from there, making sure they comply." At first blush, employers may think, "Oh, this doesn't look that bad" because it's good for workers to have access to support, recognizing they are people outside of work and things come up and you need to be able to address them, said Loretta Bouwmeester, a partner at Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark in Calgary. "e challenge is if you have a worker who has a lot of stresses outside of the workplace and a lot of responsibilities, these leaves are cumulative and they're also annual." It would be short-sighted for employers to think there's not much impact, she said. "I think that this will be a basis for unions to negotiate increased benefits, so even though these are unpaid, it's a good platform to argue, 'Well, it's a statutory requirement, let's see some coverage for these types of leaves.'" Most of the leaves make a lot of sense — they were already given on discretionary basis — but there's some fear about misuse, said Justin Turc, an associate at McCarthy Tétrault in Calgary. "A lot of these changes are in some ways not all that substantive a change from an employer's practice, but for some it is, especially for those employers who aren't in a position to provide generous compensation packages and benefit packages, with lower-level employees... that's what the government was getting at was that a lot of these people who weren't provided with these benefits are the types of employees employment standards are designed to protect, so your lower- to middle-range employee." But the changes are quite resource-intensive, and the biggest financial effect on employers is those that don't have a large staff, said Turc. "You need to pay other employees overtime or higher wages or find a replacement worker or train or do those types of activities where you're incurring financial cost." Of course, an employer can always go above and beyond the standard, as long as it does so in a non- discriminatory fashion, he said. "I bet you a lot will, especially with the shorter leaves." Leaves for family responsibility, long-term illness One of the big changes will see employees eligible for all the leaves after 90 days, instead of having to wait one year — a change in line with other provinces. When it comes to maternity or paternity leave, it's a significant difference, said Turc. "I can see those being the biggest struggle for Alberta employers face new leaves Shorter eligibility period, cumulative effect could be challenging: Experts New unpaid leaves Personal and Family Responsibility Leave — providing up to five days of job protection per year for personal sickness or short-term care of an immediate family member. Long-Term Illness and Injury Leave — providing up to 16 weeks of job protection per year for long-term personal sickness or injury. Bereavement Leave — providing up to three days of job protection per year for bereavement of an immediate family member. Domestic Violence Leave — providing up to 10 days of job protection per year for employees addressing a situation of domestic violence. Citizenship Ceremony Leave — providing up to a half-day of job protection. Critical Illness of an Adult Family Member — providing up to 16 weeks of job protection for employees caring for family. Critical Illness of a Child — providing up to 36 weeks of job protection for parents of critically ill or injured children. Death or Disappearance of a Child — providing up to 52 weeks of job protection for parents if their child disappeared, or up to 104 weeks if a child died as a result of a crime.

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