Canadian Payroll Reporter

CANADIAN PAYROLL REPORTER 5 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 LEGISLATIVE ROUNDUP | CHANGES IN PAYROLL LAWS AND REGULATIONS FROM ACROSS CANADA opt to join a plan would be responsible for enrolling their employees, deducting PRPP contributions from employees' earnings and sending them to the plan administrator. Employers would not be required to contribute to a PRPP, but could choose to do so. ■ NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR Report recommends workers' compensation changes A committee reviewing the province's workers' compensation system recom- mends action be taken to ensure the maximum compensable assessable earnings and average assessment rate for employers in Newfoundland and Labrador are comparable to other Atlan- tic provinces. The Review Committee on Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation made the recommendations in a report on the province's workers' compensation sys- tem called Working Together — Safe, Ac- countable, Sustainable. The committee put forward 42 policy recommendations in the report cov- ering areas such as financial sustain- ability, early and safe return-to-work, prevention, claims management and governance. The report also included 90 recommendations for amending the workers' compensation legislation. Among the recommendations the com- mittee made: At the earliest possible time with- in the next five years, the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Com- mission (WHSCC) should develop a plan to ensure that the province's maximum assessable earnings achieve parity with the province in Atlantic Canada with the highest maximum assessable earnings. At the time the committee wrote the re- port, New Brunswick had the highest rate at $59,500. As of Jan. 1, 2014, New- foundland has the highest at $60,760. Also within the five-year timeframe, the WHSCC should come up with a plan to ensure the average assessment rate for employers in the province is on par with the average assessment rate for all provinces in Atlantic Canada. Last year, the average was $2.20. This year, it is $2.05. The Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act should be amended to allow the WHSCC to go to court to require employers to produce records showing their estimated annual payroll if an employer refuses to provide them. The provincial minister responsible for the WHSCC, Dan Crummell, says the government is currently reviewing the recommendations. See www.gov.nl.ca/ lra/workingtogether. ■ NOVA SCOTIA Minimum wage going up 10 cents an hour on April 1 Effective April 1, 2014, the minimum wage rates in Nova Scotia will increase. For experienced workers (i.e., those with at least three months' experience in their job), the rate will rise from $10.30 per hour to $10.40. The rate for inexperi- enced workers will rise from $9.80 per hour to $9.90. The provincial govern- ment adjusts minimum wages annually based on the previous year's national consumer price index. ■ QUEBEC Minimum wage rising 20 cents an hour on May 1 Effective May 1, 2014, the Quebec gov- ernment will increase the provincial gen- eral minimum wage rate from $10.15 per hour to $10.35, Labour Minister Agnès Maltais recently announced. The rate change will also apply to employees in specified sectors of the clothing industry. The rate for employees who receive tips will rise from $8.75 an hour to $8.90. The minimum amount paid to employ- ees who pick raspberries will rise from $2.98 per kilogram to $3.04 and the rate for strawberry pickers will go up from $0.79 per kilogram to $0.81. ■ YUKON Minimum wage increasing April 1 – exact amount not yet known Effective April 1, 2014, the minimum wage rate in Yukon will increase from the current rate of $10.54 per hour. The minimum wage rate is indexed to the consumer price index and is adjusted every year on April 1. At press time, the government had not yet announced the rate. For the latest minimum wage changes in the Yukon, and in other ju- risdictions across Canada, visit www. payroll-reporter.com. Continued on page 8 Continued from page 4 previous government announcement that it would freeze EI premium rates for employees outside of Quebec at 1.88 per cent for 2014 and not set the rate any higher than 1.88 per cent in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, the government will implement a new process for setting EI premium rates called the seven-year break-even rate. Budget documents es- timate this change will result in an EI premium rate of 1.47 per cent in 2017 and 2018. Future rate changes will be limited to adjustments of no more than five cents. Other proposed measures include: A non-refundable tax credit for search and rescue volunteers: This would be similar to an existing tax credit for volunteer firefighters. Eligible indi- viduals would be able to claim a 15 per cent non-refundable tax credit based on an amount of $3,000 for their search and rescue volunteer work if they carried out a minimum of 200 hours of search and rescue services a year. Individuals who claim the new tax credit would also not be allowed to take the $1,000 tax exemption for honoraria that some governments, municipalities and public authorities pay to emergency services volunteers. The government proposes to implement the tax credit this year. Apprenticeship training: The bud- get proposes to implement a new pilot Federal budget Continued from page 3

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