Government commits to CPP, EI and income tax changes in throne speech
Canada’s new Liberal government says it is committed to enhancing the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), strengthening the employment insurance (EI) system and providing personal income tax cuts for middle-class Canadians.
Governor General David Johnston announced the government’s plans in the speech from the throne on Dec. 4 but did not provide details on the changes to CPP or EI, although the government later tabled legislation to implement the income tax changes.
The tax changes include cutting the rate for the second tax bracket from 22 per cent to 20.5 per cent and introducing a new tax rate of 33 per cent for individuals earning more than $200,000 a year, as well as rolling back the contribution limit for tax-free savings accounts from $10,000 to $5,500. The changes take effect Jan. 1.
MANITOBA
Employment standards changes proposed
Manitoba is proposing to allow workers covered under the province’s Employment Standards Code to take up to 17 weeks off work, without pay, if they suffer a serious injury or illness.
The proposal is part of Bill 8, the Employment Standards Code Amendment Act (Leave for Victims of Domestic Violence, Leave for Serious Injury or Illness and Extension of Compassionate Care Leave), which Minister of Labour and Immigration Erna Braun tabled in the provincial legislature on Nov. 25.
The amendments would allow employees who have been employed by their employer for at least 90 days to take up to 17 weeks off work in any 52-week period for a serious injury or illness. Employees would need to provide their employer with a medical certificate verifying they are unable to work for at least two weeks because of a serious injury or illness.
An employee would have to take the time off in one continuous period unless the employer and the employee agree otherwise or it is allowed under a collective agreement.
The bill also proposes to increase the period of time employees may take off for compassionate care leave from eight weeks to 28 weeks. It would also increase the eligibility requirements for a compassionate care leave from 30 days to 90 days.
The code allows eligible employees to take up to two periods of compassionate care leave to provide care or support to a seriously ill family member with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks. The bill proposes to extend the period in which an employee may take the leave from 26 weeks after the day the first period of leave began to 52 weeks afterwards.
It would also clarify that no additional medical certificate would be required if an employee took a compassionate care leave after the end of the 26-week period set out in the medical certificate.
The illness/injury leave and compassionate care amendments would take effect Apr. 1.
The bill would also add a new leave for employees who are victims of domestic violence. For more information, see "Manitoba proposes job-protected time off work for domestic violence victims" on pg. 3.
NOVA SCOTIA
LSC amendments enhance leaves
Beginning Jan. 3, amendments to the province’s labour standards law allow employees to take more time off work, without pay, for bereavement and compassionate care leaves.
The amendments were part of Bill 127, the Labour Standards Code (amended), which the provincial legislature passed in December. The amendments allow employees to take a bereavement leave of up to five consecutive working days upon the death of their spouse, parent, guardian, child, ward, grandparent, grandchild, sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law or brother-in-law.
Previously, employees could take up to three working days off work if their spouse, parent, guardian, child or ward dies and one working day if their grandparent, grandchild, sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law or brother-in-law dies.
The amendments also increase the number of weeks an employee may take a compassionate care leave from eight weeks to 28 weeks. The act allows eligible employees to take time off work to provide care or support to a seriously ill family member with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks.
The amendments also extend the period within which employees may take the leave from 26 weeks to 52 weeks, meaning an employee could end and restart the leave during the 52 weeks following the first day of the week in which it began.
In addition, they clarify that if an employee restarted a leave after 26 weeks, the employee would not need another medical certificate.
ESA to include new rules for tips
New employment standards rules will regulate when employers may withhold tips or gratuities from employees or deduct amounts from the payments.
The changes are contained in Bill 12, Protecting Employees’ Tips Act, 2015, which amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to include standards for employee tips and gratuities. The bill is expected to take effect sometime in June.
Once in force, the bill will prohibit employers from withholding tips or gratuities from employees, deducting amounts from the tips or gratuities or causing employees to return their tips or gratuities to the employer unless allowed by a law or a court order or because the employer collects and redistributes them among some or all of the employees.
It will also prohibit employers, directors and shareholders from sharing in redistributed tips or gratuities unless they regularly do the same work as employees who share in the tips or as employees of other employers in the same industry who commonly receive or share tips or gratuities.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Minimum wage to go up twice in 2016
The provincial government says it will raise the province’s minimum wage rate twice this year. On Jun. 1, it will increase the rate from $10.50 per hour to $10.75. On Oct. 1, it will raise the rate again to $11. The provincial government says about 9.3 per cent of Island workers are paid minimum wage.
New leaves added to ESA
Amendments to the province’s Employment Standards Act now allow employees to take job-protected time off work if their child is critically ill or has disappeared or died as a result of a crime.
The provincial legislature added the new leaves when it passed Bill 39, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, on Dec. 2. The province joins most other Canadians jurisdictions in allowing this.
The amendments allow eligible employees to take up to 37 weeks off work within a 52-week period if their child, under 18 years old, is critically ill. If an employee’s child disappears as a result of a probable crime, the employee will be allowed to take up to 52 weeks off work and if a child dies as a result of a probable crime, eligible employees will be able to take up to 104 weeks off work. Employees will only be able to take the leaves in periods of at least one week.
To be eligible, employees must be employed by their employer for a continuous period of at least three months. To take a leave for a critically ill child, employees will have to provide their employer with a copy of a medical certificate verifying the need for the leave if the employer requests it in writing.
For leaves related to the disappearance or death or a child, employees will have to provide their employer with reasonable documentation of the need for the leave if the employer requests it in writing.
Employees who are charged with a crime related to the child’s disappearance or death are not entitled to the leaves for a child who has disappeared or died.
When the leave is over, employers will have to reinstate the employee in the position held right before taking the leave or, if that position no longer exists, in a comparable one, with not less than the same wages and benefits the employee would have received if she had not taken the leave.
