Canadian Payroll Reporter

News January 2018 | CPR Published 12 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $179 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 E-mail: customersupport.legaltaxcanada @tr.com Website: www.thomsonreuters.ca One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Todd Humber Editor Sheila Brawn sbrawn@rogers.com Editor/Supervisor Sarah Dobson News Editor Marcel Vander Wier Sales Manager Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Marketing Manager Robert Symes rob.symes@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9551 Circulation Co-ordinator Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 Payroll Reporter Can R Can R adian adian a www.payroll-reporter.com ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-7798-2810-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Return Mail Registration # 1522825 | Return Postage Guaranteed Paid News Revenue Toronto Canadian Payroll Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications: • Canadian HR Reporter — www.hrreporter.com • Canadian Occupational Safety magazine — www.cos-mag.com • Canadian Payroll Reporter — www.payroll-reporter.com • Canadian Employment Law Today — www.employmentlawtoday.com • Canadian Labour Reporter — www.labour-reporter.com See carswell.com for information Overhaul introduces new leaves, pay deductions three weeks of paid vacation, at six per cent of their earnings. In Alberta, employees are now al- lowed to take their vacations in periods as short as a half-day. What has not: Employees in Alberta are still entitled to a minimum of two weeks' paid va- cation after completing each of their first four years of employ- ment. After five years, they get three weeks' vacation. In both jurisdictions, the rules for when an employee must take a vacation and when the employ- er must pay it have not changed. Leaves of absence What has changed: Alberta has added unpaid leaves covering ill- ness/injury (16 weeks), personal and family responsibility (five days), bereavement (three days), critically ill children (36 weeks), children who have disappeared or died as the result of a prob- able crime (52 and 104 weeks, respectively), domestic violence (10 days), and citizenship cer- emonies (half-day). It has also increased the du- ration of compassionate care leave from eight weeks to 27 weeks and maternity leave from 15 weeks to 16 weeks. The gov- ernment has also said it may increase the length of parental leave to match recent employ- ment insurance amendments that allow individuals to receive parental benefits over a longer period at a lower rate. In addition, Alberta has re- duced the eligibility period for all of its leaves from 52 weeks to 90 days. In Ontario, all employees cov- ered by the act are now entitled to take time off work for person- al emergency leave. Previously, the leave was only for employees whose employer had at least 50 employees. Employees may take up to 10 days off each year, with two of them paid days. Ontario has also increased the amount of time off employ- ees may take for a family medi- cal leave from eight weeks to 28 weeks and for a crime-related disappearance of a child from 52 weeks to 104 weeks. Employees whose child dies may now take up to 104 weeks off regardless of the reason for the death. Ontario has also introduced a leave for domestic or sexual violence. Eligible employees may take up to 10 days and 15 weeks off work each year for them- selves or their child if either is the victim of domestic or sexual vio- lence or the threat of it. Employ- ers must pay employees for the first five days of leave each year. What has not: Employers in Alberta are still not required to maintain benefits for an employ- ee on an unpaid leave unless it is part of an employment or col- lective agreement. The rules in both jurisdictions for reinstating employees once their leaves are over remain the same. Pay and deductions What has changed: The rules in Alberta now prohibit employ- ers from taking deductions from employees' pay for any damage an employee causes or for cash shortages caused by the em- ployee's failure to collect all or part of the purchase price from a customer. These prohibitions are in ad- dition to those covering deduc- tions for faulty work and cash shortages or loss of property if the employee was not the only person who had access to the property or the missing money in question. In Ontario, the Ministry of Labour now has the authority to prescribe additional methods for employers to pay employees beyond cash, cheque or direct deposit. What has not: The rules cov- ering pay period length, paydays, and pay statements remain the same. Terminations What has changed: New notice requirements apply for group terminations in Alberta. If an employer is terminating the em- ployment of 50 or more employ- ees from a single location in a four-week period, the employer must give the employees notice based on the number of workers being let go. For 50 to 99 employees, eight weeks' notice is required. For 100 to 299 employees, 12 weeks' notice is needed, rising to 16 weeks for 300 or more work- ers. The employer must give the same amount of notice to the labour ministry and the unions representing the employees. The Alberta amendments also clarify rules for temporary lay- offs and paying termination pay when a worker's wages vary. In addition, they specify that notice requirements apply after 90 days of employment. They also pro- hibit employers from requiring employees to use banked over- time during a termination notice period, unless both sides agree to it. What has not: The amount of termination notice required in both jurisdictions for an indi- vidual termination remains the same. There are no changes to severance pay rules in Ontario. Other changes include new rules for employing young workers (Alberta) and for hiring and terminating the employ- ment of temporary help work- ers (Ontario). In addition, Ontario will im- plement amendments in April requiring casual, part-time, temporary and seasonal em- ployees to be paid equally to full-time staff when doing the same job. Exceptions will apply for factors such as seniority or a merit system. Next year, Ontario plans to implement changes affecting employee scheduling and call-in pay. from RULES on page 3 In April, Ontario will implement amendments around equal pay for equal work.

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