Canadian Payroll Reporter

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 News CPR | March 2018 Getting ready for flex time Federal, Ontario workers will soon have right to request flexible work arrangements BY SHEILA BRAWN IMAGINE BEING able to choose where and when you work for your employer or at least having the right to request changes to your work arrangements. Beginning next year, most employees in Ontario covered by the Employment Standards Act, 2000 will have that right. Federally regulated workers will also be allowed to request flex- ible work arrangements once recently passed amendments to the Canada Labour Code (CLC) are implemented. While many employers al- ready give their employees flexibility by allowing them to work from home and/or choose their work hours, the legislative amendments will enshrine in law the right to request flexibil- ity. This means that employers will have to consider employee requests and will be prohibited from punishing employees for asking for flexibility. The federal changes stem from a promise that the Liberal Party of Canada made during the 2015 election campaign to help federally regulated workers bet- ter balance work and family. The Ontario amendments were part of an overhaul of em- ployment standards that the provincial government began implementing this year. The flex work provisions will take effect Jan. 1, 2019. While Ontario is so far the only province to add flexible work arrangements to its em- ployment standards legislation, the federal Liberals say they hope others will follow. Specific procedures for mak- ing and reviewing flex work re- quests will need to be followed. In Ontario, employees with at least three months of service with their employer will be al- lowed to request changes to their work schedule or work location. The request must be in writing. The CLC will require that employees be employed by their employer for a minimum of six months before requesting changes to the number of hours they work, their work schedule, work location or to any other terms and conditions that may be included in CLC regulations. The request must be in writing. In the request, federally regu- lated workers will have to in- clude their name, the date on which they make the request, a description of the change, and the date they want it to take ef- fect. If the change is only tempo- rary, they will have to specify this and include the date the change will end. Federally regulated employees will also have to explain how they think the requested change will affect their employer and how the employer could manage it. In Ontario, employers will be required to discuss requests with employees and inform them of their decision "within a reasonable time" after an em- ployee makes a request. Employers in Ontario will be allowed to fully or partially grant requests or reject them. If they deny a request, employers must tell the employee why. If they ac- cept all or part of a request, they must notify employees of when they will implement the change and how long it will apply. The CLC rules are similar, but more specific. After an employ- ee makes a request, employers see ADVANTAGES page 8

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