Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 January 10, 2018 employers to deal with, when they're hiring a new employee who's been there for three or four months and now they're going on a parental leave, a mat leave, for instance — especially for small business, that could be difficult to deal with, or disruptive." Also of note is the new Personal and Family Responsibility Leave. If an employer already provides paid sick days, it needs to consider if it will continue to do so, said Bouwmeester. A small firm, for example, that already offers six sick days might make it inclusive of this new leave, so it's not offering 11 days per year. "You've got to take a step back and think about what your workplace needs are, what you're able to manage effectively; and if you're a small employer, it's very different than if you're a large one, where there's cross- trained employees and (people) to backfill," she said. is also represents a "consequential change" to the human rights framework because an employer can't contract out of the minimum employment standard codes requirements, said Bouwmeester. "All of a sudden, you can't say you've got an attendance problem if somebody misses five days per year, because the legislation says they're entitled to it. So your floor on a duty-to-accommodate analysis starts at the legislation, and I don't think people are cluing into that yet, to be honest." ere's also the potential for misuse by employees, said Turc. "e reasons for taking (the leave) are fairly liberal, so it can be a concern. So now you're not going to be able to discipline people for not showing up and they'll quite fairly easily be able to identify some reason in this personal and family responsibility leave that may or not be valid." For illness-related leaves, medical documentation is often required, but it's less defined for the personal and family responsibility one — though an employer can establish its own policies and procedures, said Miller. Employers may also want to take note of the Long- Term Illness and Injury Leave, which is going to come into play when short- and long-term disability insurers are denying coverage, but a doctor's note says the employee is not fit for duty, said Bouwmeester. "Ultimately, I think we're going to see a high rate of usage of that one." Plus, a person can take the leave even if he's only been with an employer for 90 days, she said. "ey get up to 16 weeks, so you're never going to be able to argue, in my mind, that you can't accommodate a long-term illness leave until it hits four months; even if you're a small employer with three employees, you're going to have to accommodate that worker, you're not going to be able to terminate saying, 'We can't accommodate' and then hire full-time for the new role." Tip for employers ese changes require every employer, big or small, to look at each policy or procedure, said Miller, "because now it may not align, or maybe they're promising some- thing that they aren't required to promise and they want to look at that, or what they thought was generous... is now not meeting the requirements." Many employers are considering changes to health and benefit plans, pension plans, and other ancillary plans, said Turc. "A lot of people are looking at whether they'd continue benefits during some of these leaves. So they might already have an approach that they take with respect to maternity and paternity leave, because those are old and long-standing, and now (it's about) looking at what their approach will be with these new leaves — so whether they'll continue benefits or stop benefits." It's also important to look at the human rights implications of those actions, said Turc, "so not wanting to discriminate against employees on prohibited grounds, and treating employees fairly." Attendance management and attendance tracking are also going to be very important, said Bouwmeester. "Now there's a greater impetus to do it because you need to know if you're getting into trouble early around attendance management, and wellness programs — make attendance a positive part of your wellness for your employees." It makes sense to be more proactive, she said. "is really incentivizes you to have an employee assistance program (EAP) that is in place, well- communicated and ideally accessed so that you get support for individual workers and their families, so these leaves don't become necessary. So the whole 'Stitch in time saves nine' will really be incentivized because you have job-protected leave now. From a business perspective, the investment on the back-end should pay off in spades on the front-end." A lot of employers are looking at whether they would continue benefits during some of these leaves." Alberta employers would be short-sighted to think there won't be much of an impact from the province's new unpaid leaves, or revisions to existing ones, says one employment lawyer. Credit: Todd Roll (Reuters)

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