If SIN cards are eliminated, do employers have to check if employees have a card? What jurisdictions have a February holiday?
Can employers decide if overtime is paid or given as time off in lieu of payment?
Question: As an employer, can I determine whether to pay overtime pay in money or in time off in lieu of payment?
Answer: Employment and labour standards laws across Canada require employers to pay employees overtime pay if they work more than a specified number of hours per day or week (depending on the jurisdiction’s requirements).
The overtime rate is generally 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate, although in some jurisdictions (New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador) it is 1.5 times the current minimum wage rate (and in British Columbia, the rate is 2.0 times the employee’s regular rate after an employee works 12 hours in a day).
Employers cannot arbitrarily decide to compensate employees for overtime by providing them with paid time off work in lieu of overtime pay. Employers and employees must agree to it (generally in writing) or it must be part of a collective agreement.
Where there is an overtime agreement, employment and labour standards often attach conditions on how to calculate the amount of time off, a time limit for when the employee must take the time off or be paid for the work and how to treat outstanding time in lieu when a termination occurs.
If feds eliminate SIN cards, do employers have to check employees have a card?
Question: I understand the federal government is eliminating the social insurance number (SIN) card. Does that mean that employers no longer need to check that employees have a card?
Answer: Amendments made in Bill C-38, the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, eliminated provisions in federal legislation requiring that individuals show their SIN card and the Canada Employment Insurance Commission issue a social insurance number card to each person registered with the commission.
Instead, the federal government is considering sending letters advising individuals of their SIN and phasing out the use of cards. This could happen beginning in 2014, but at press time the government had not yet announced a date.
Regardless of the change, employers are still required to obtain a SIN from each employee who works for them. If an employee does not provide a SIN, the employer must be able to show it made a reasonable effort to obtain the number (for example, keep copies of written requests for the SIN).
Employers who do not make a reasonable effort to get a SIN may be fined $100 for each failure. Employees who fail to provide their SIN may also be penalized $100 for each failure.
Which jurisdictions have a February holiday?
Question: We are updating our statutory holiday calendar for 2013. Which jurisdictions have a holiday in February?
Answer: The following jurisdictions have a statutory holiday on Feb. 18, 2013:
- Alberta - Family Day
- British Columbia - Family Day
- Manitoba - Louis Riel Day
- Ontario - Family Day
- Prince Edward Island - Islander Day
- Saskatchewan - Family Day
Annie Chong is manager of the payroll consulting group at Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business, which publishes the Canadian Payroll Manual and operates the Carswell Payroll Hotline. She can be reached at [email protected].
