Canadian Payroll Reporter

News 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: carswell.customerrelations @thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com One Corporate Plaz 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Carswell Media Karen Lorimer Publisher John Hobel (on leave) Acting Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Todd Humber Editor Sheila Brawn sbrawn@rogers.com Editor/Supervisor Sarah Dobson Assistant Editor Mallory Hendry (on leave) Assistant Editor Anastasiya Jogal 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 ©2016 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 (Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business). 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 January 2016 | CPR Braun said the government had discussed the bill with its Labour Management Review Committee, made up of busi- ness and labour representatives. However, she acknowledged committee members did not reach a consensus on domestic violence leave. Braun added the government would further con- sult with employers and unions on drafting regulations. Employer responsibilities While the Manitoba legislation would not require employers to pay employees for anymore than five days of leave, it would oblige them to save a job for the em- ployee. Similar to other leaves provided for under the code, em- ployers would have to reinstate employees returning from leave in the position they held when the leave began or provide them with a comparable position with not less than the wages and ben- efits they earned right before taking the leave. Employers would be prohibit- ed from laying off or terminating an employee eligible for the leave because the employee intended to take the leave or took it. For pension and benefit pur- poses, the employee's employ- ment before and after the leave would be continuous. The new leave would likely require some additional admin- istrative work for employers. Besides the requirement to pay employees for up to five days of leave, if they requested it, pay- roll departments would also have to keep records of the paid days of leave. The amendments specify that employers would have to keep records of the dates and number of days taken as paid leave and the amount paid to an employee for each paid day of the leave. The amendments would also implement confidential- ity requirements for employers and employees who administer employment leaves. Employ- ers would be required to keep all information about a leave for an employee confidential and be prohibited from disclosing the information to anyone unless they needed the information to carry out their duties, the em- ployer was required by law to disclose the information or the employee gave consent. "This provision is intended to protect personal information and personal health information of employees," Braun said. "As it applies to domestic vio- lence leave, confidentiality can also be an important step to pro- tecting the employee's personal safety, given that we know that incidents of domestic violence can increase when a victim is taking steps to end the relation- ship," she added. Employers or employees who do not comply with the confi- dentiality requirements could face penalties. For an employee, that could mean a fine of up to $2,500. For an employer, it could be a fine of up to $5,000, increas- ing to $25,000 for an employer that is a corporation. In addition, directors could face individual fines of up to $5,000. For subsequent offences, a jail term of up to three months is possible. To date, no other provincial or territorial governments have said whether they are consider- ing introducing similar legisla- tion in their jurisdiction. from MANITOBA on page 3 Budgets mean changes from REMITTANCES on page 6 CNT: The maximum amount subject to the levy to finance the Commission des normes du tra- vail increased from $70,000 per employee to $71,500 for 2016. Workers' compensation All boards have now released their maximum assessable/insur- able earnings amount for 2016: Jurisdiction 2016 Maximum Alberta $98,700 British Columbia $80,600 Manitoba $125,000 New Brunswick $61,800 Newfoundland and Labrador $62,540 Northwest Territories $88,600 Nova Scotia $58,200 Nunavut $88,600 Ontario $88,000 Prince Edward Island $52,200 Quebec $71,500 Saskatchewan $69,242 Yukon $84,837 What to watch for this year: In jurisdictions that index their minimum wage rates, payroll professionals can expect mini- mum wage changes this year. Nova Scotia and Yukon change their rates on Apr. 1, while Al- berta, Ontario and Saskatch- ewan do it on Oct. 1. While not indexed, other jurisdictions, such as P.E.I. and Nunavut are also planning wage hikes. Que- bec usually increases wage rates on May 1. Other things to watch for in 2016 include possible federal changes affecting source de- ductions and labour standards. During the election campaign, the Liberals said, if elected, they would enhance CPP benefits and reduce the EI premium rate to 1.65 per cent for 2017. The party also promised to amend the Canada Labour Code to allow federally regulated workers to request more flexible working conditions, without fear of reprisal, and to work with oth- er governments to implement similar rights under provincial/ territorial labour standards laws. Provincially, there may be em- ployment standards changes in Alberta and Ontario as a result of recent consultations looking at ways to ensure that the stan- dards reflect today's work envi- ronment. Federal and provincial/ter- ritorial budgets could bring further changes. Governments usually release budgets between February and May, although no jurisdiction other than British Columbia is obligated to bring in a budget on a certain date. B.C. law requires the government to table a budget on the third Tues- day in February every year. Penalties possible

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