Alberta minimum wage tied to CPI • Ontario unveils hours of work and overtime tool • Quebec minimum wage to rise • New Brunswick minimum wage going up • Newfoundland and Labrador reviewing WHSCC • Nova Scotia minimum wage going up • P.E.I. minimum wage going up • WCB P.E.I. rolls out operational plan for 2012
Alberta
Minimum wage tied to CPI
Minimum wage changes in Alberta will now be tied to the consumer price index (CPI). The minimum wage change will be implemented on Sept. 1. The government has promised to give three months’ notice of indexed minimum wage changes for the province in the future.
Yukon
Minimum wage under review
The Yukon territory adjusts its minimum wage every April 1 based on the consumer price index. The Employment Standards Board is reviewing the minimum wage rate. At press time, no announcement on any changes had been made.
Ontario
Ontario unveils hours of work and overtime tool
The Ontario Ministry of Labour has rolled out a new tool to help employers understand and comply with rules about hours of work and overtime under the Employment Standards Act (ESA). The hours of work and overtime tool is designed to help employers confirm and comply with specific rules concerning employee hours of work. The tool can help determine compliance for a range of standards such as daily rest, overtime, averaging and rest between shifts. The tool features tutorials and calculators on topics including overtime and time off in lieu, daily rest and rest between shifts. It serves as an introduction and link to the online forms required for requesting excess hours and overtime averaging, according to the ministry. The ministry has five other online tools to help employers and employees understand and comply with the ESA, including a severance tool, a termination tool and a public holiday calculator. The tool is available at: www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/hours/index.php.
Quebec
Minimum wage to rise
Quebec’s minimum wage rates are going to go up on May 1, 2012, Labour Minister Lise Thériault announced. The general minimum wage will rise from $9.65 to $9.90. Employees who receive tips will have their wages raised from $8.35 to $8.55. Raspberry pickers will see an increase from $2.84 per kilogram to $2.91 per kilogram and strawberry pickers will see an increase from 75 cents per kilogram to 77 cents per kilogram. On the same day the province will also introduce new measures for board and lodging. Currently, if an employee is required to live at or have meals at the employer’s establishment, the Commission des normes du travail allows employers to deduct a maximum of $1.50 per meal, up to $20 per week, $20 per week for the room and $40 per week for the room and meals. Beginning May 1, 2012, the maximum deductions will be: $2 per meal, up to $26 a week; $25 a week for a room only, $30 a week for a room and meals if the room can accommodate five or more employees and $45 a week for a room and meals where the room sleeps no more than four employees. The amounts will be indexed based on increases in the minimum wage rate without exceeding the consumer price index.
New Brunswick
Minimum wage going up
The general minimum wage rate in New Brunswick will increase from $9.50 per hour to $10.00 on April 1, 2012. The minimum rate for employees whose hours of work per week are unverifiable and who are not strictly employed on a commission basis will rise from $418 per week to $440 on April 1, 2012. The minimum wage changes were originally slated for Sept. 1, 2011; however, the government delayed the increases to give small- and medium-sized businesses more time to adjust.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Province reviewing WHSCC
The provincial government is conducting a review of the province’s Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission’s (WHSCC’s) operations. The review is required by law to occur every five years. The review would examine compensation and health care services, client services, injury and fatality prevention and the financial sustainability of the WHSCC, the minister responsible for the WHSCC, Paul Davis said.
Nova Scotia
Minimum wage going up
As of April 1, the minimum wage in Nova Scotia will rise to $10.15, a 1.5 per cent increase from the present rate of $10 per hour. The minimum wage for an inexperienced worker, with less than three months’ experience in the work for which they were hired, has also risen from $9.50 to $9.65. The increase to $10.15 is based on the low income cut-off adjusted for inflation. Future increases to the rate will occur annually in April based on increases to the national consumer price index for the previous year, said the government. Fixing the rate to the consumer price index was a recommendation from the Minimum Wage Review Committee. The committee had previously recommended a schedule of increases that would bring the rate back in line with the low income cut-off, a figure set by Statistics Canada where people are devoting a significantly larger than average percentage of their income to the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing. The rate was last set in October 2011, at slightly above the low income cut-off.
Prince Edward Island
Minimum wage going up
The minimum wage rate in Prince Edward Island will increase from $9.60 per hour to $10 on April 1, 2012.
WCB P.E.I. rolls out operational plan for 2012
The Workers Compensation Board (WCB) of Prince Edward Island has introduced its operational plan for 2012, which includes plans to implement employer assessment payroll audit improvements. The board plans to implement employer assessment payroll audit improvements and monitor the impacts of changing accounting standards on the financial position. The board’s corporate services will take steps to implement payroll audit improvements by: developing and implementing a plan to improve processes related to employer assessment payroll audit, implementing business processes to reflect improvement identified for the capturing of supporting audit documentation and recommending and implementing policy and procedure changes to reflect audit results. The document also looks at steps to fulfilling goals in other key action areas including improving outcomes for workers with soft tissue injuries, human resources, legislation and strategic planning. The plan is available at: www.wcb.pe.ca/DocumentManagement/Document/pub_operationalplan2012.pdf
