Canadian Payroll Reporter

THE COMPLIANCE AND STRATEGY SOURCE FOR PAYROLL AND HR PROFESSIONALS Payroll has critical role in business continuity CPA guidelines provide road map for keeping payroll going during crisis | BY ZACHARY PEDERSEN | on Monday for business or not," he says. The plan accounted for a day of missed business, so Sinclair and his team were confident of their ability to complete the administration of payroll on Monday after the power came back. "By developing a plan like this, it forced us to look at our processes and get a better understanding of what the critical processes of the work were," he says. WHEN ALAN SINCLAIR looks back on the massive power outage that struck Ontario, Quebec and much of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States a decade ago, he is proud of the emergency plan his organization had in place. At the time, Sinclair was a payroll project leader at Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and had contributed to the business continuity plan OPG created should CPA payroll continuity plan guidelines there ever be an incident that could halt When Sinclair became the chair of the business. board of directors at the Canada Payroll "As everyone was heading home in Association (CPA) in 2006, the organithe afternoon, that's when the power zation identified a went out," Sinclair need for guidelines recalls, adding it to be developed for was a Thursday and members who may payroll was sched"If a business doesn't have have to ensure payuled to be coma business continuity plan, roll continuity durpleted the following at least they should have ing an emergency day. "(The payroll that would interrupt department) had one for payroll." business. 24 staff who didn't Sinclair's exknow what was goperience with OPG ing on. So, as part of made for perfect timing. the company's business plan, our senior "A lot of businesses were doing busimanager was contacted by his senior ness continuity planning and we felt it management and we were told, 'Don't was important for payroll to be part of go into the office... the office will not be that plan," he says. "In fact, if a busiopen." ness doesn't have a business continuity According to the plan, Sinclair was plan, at least they should have one for in charge of informing the staff that payroll." answers to him about when business This helps improve the profile of paywould resume. roll within the business. "We had a staff contact list at home "It shows that the payroll manager is — myself and the other managers — so thinking about the impact of pay on the we contacted our staff and said, 'Stay at home, don't try to come into work and Continued on page 5 we'll let you know whether we'll be open CPR September 2013.indd 1 SEPTEMBER 2013 IN THIS ISSUE SHOULD EMPLOYEES PAY FOR TRAINING? Air Canada rouge faces criticism for payroll deductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 NEWS BRIEFS Men more likely to dip into retirement savings during tough times: Survey • Working families face high tax hurdles on extra income: Report • Average Canadian net worth $400,000: Report • Canadians need improved options to save for retirement: Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 INCLUDING WORK ON HOLIDAYS IN OVERTIME PAY Answer varies in each jurisdiction . . . . .11 Organizations on the hook for missed garnishments Exemption maximums vary between provinces | BY ZACHARY PEDERSEN | EMPLOYERS HAVE AN obligation to comply with government-ordered garnishment notices in the time prescribed by the notice, according to Sean Taylor, a lawyer at Bradley, Hiscock, McCracken in Ottawa. "Ultimately, if an employer doesn't either pay what it's told to pay or explain why it's paying less… then the employer becomes liable for that amount," Taylor says, adding this is the case even if the reason payment wasn't remitted is an accident. continued on page 2 13-08-28 10:19 AM

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