Legislative Roundup

Canada

Government implements EI and CLC amendments

On Dec. 3, 2017, the federal government implemented changes to the Employment Insurance Act that give eligible employees more options for claiming benefits related to parenting and caring for family members. It also enacted related amendments to the Canada Labour Code (CLC).

The amendments were included in Bill C-44, the Budget Implementation Act 2017, No. 1, which received royal assent on June 22.

The EI changes give eligible claimants the option of receiving parental benefits for 35 weeks over 12 months at a benefit rate of 55 per cent or for 61 weeks over 18 months at a rate of 33 per cent.

They also permit maternity benefits to be paid as early as 12 weeks before the claimant’s expected due date, rather than the previous eight weeks.

The changes also include a new 15-week benefit for individuals taking time off work to care for a critically ill adult family member and they expand eligibility for benefits for caring for a critically ill child to include family members beyond the child’s parents.

To align federal labour standards with the EI changes, the government increased the maximum length of parental leave from 37 weeks to 63 weeks, extended the period in which an employee may take the leave from 52 weeks to 78 weeks after a baby is born or a child comes into the employee’s care, and extended the period in which employees may begin maternity leave from 11 weeks before their due date to 13 weeks.

The CLC changes also allow eligible employees to take a new 17-week unpaid leave to provide care or support to an adult family member who is critically ill. They also permit employees to take time off work to care for a critically ill child who is a family member.

Previously the leave was only available to the child’s parents.

Alberta

Bill 30 proposes WCB changes

Proposed amendments to Alberta’s workers’ compensation law would require employers to continue contributing to a worker’s health benefits plan for up to a year while the employee is off work due to a workplace injury.

The changes are part of Bill 30, An Act to Protect the Health and Well-being of Working Albertans, which the government tabled in the legislature on Nov. 27.

The obligation would only apply if the employer paid contributions to the benefits plan before the injury occurred and if injured employees continued to pay their share, if any, of the contributions.

The amendments would also require employers to reinstate injured employees with at least 12 months of service.

If passed, the changes would take effect on Sept. 1.

Ontario

New leave rules now in force

Employees in Ontario are now allowed to take up to 17 weeks off work, without pay, to care for a critically ill adult family member.

On Dec. 3, the provincial government implemented amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 that permit the leave for employees who have worked for their employer for at least six consecutive months.

To take the time off, employees must provide, if their employer requests it, a certificate from a qualified health practitioner that verifies the need for the leave and sets out the period in which the family member needs care or support.

The act also  now permits eligible employees to take up to 37 weeks off work, without pay, to provide care or support to a critically child who is a family member.

Previously, time off could only be taken by the child’s parents.

The government has also increased the length of job-protected parental leave that employees may take from 35 weeks to 61 weeks for employees who also take a pregnancy leave and from 37 weeks to 63 weeks for others.

The government made the changes to bring its parental leave and critical illness leave standards in line with recent federal amendments affecting employment insurance parental benefits.

Reminder: Minimum wage increased Jan. 1

The Ontario government raised the province’s general minimum wage rate from $11.60 an hour to $14 on Jan. 1.

The change is part of a plan to gradually increase the rate to $15 by Jan. 1, 2019.

Other minimum wage rates also went up on Jan. 1 of this year. The rate for students who are under 18 and who work fewer than 28 hours a week (or more than 28 hours during school vacation) increased from $10.90 an hour to $13.15. The rate will rise to $14.10 next year.

The rate for liquor servers rose from $10.10 an hour to $12.20. It will rise to $13.05 next year. The rate now applies only to liquor servers who regularly receive tips and gratuities.

The minimum wage rate paid to homeworkers increased from $12.80 an hour to $15.40. It will rise to $16.50 in 2019.

The minimum wage rate for hunting and fishing guides who work fewer than five consecutive hours in a day rose from $58 a day to $70 on Jan. 1. Next year, the rate will rise to $75.

The rate for guides who work five or more hours a day, whether or not the hours are consecutive, increased from $116 a day to $140. The rate will rise to $150 next year.

The government says it will begin indexing minimum wage rates again on Oct. 1, 2019.

According to the Canadian Press, 53 economists signed an open letter supporting Ontario’s proposed hike, indicating such increases can “lead to little or no job loss.”

However, Ontario’s financial watchdog has stated that the province’s wage increase could result in more than 50,000 job losses as businesses work to reduce costs ahead of the truncated wage bump timeline.

Prince Edward Island

Minimum wage to rise in April

The Prince Edward Island government will raise the province’s minimum wage rate from $11.25 an hour to $11.55 on April 1.

Workforce and Advanced Learning Minister Sonny Gallant said the Employment Standards Board recommended the rate hike based on economic factors in the province and input from the public during consultations last summer.

Quebec

Government proposes QPP amendments

The Quebec government is proposing amendments to the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) that would increase employer and employee contributions in order to increase retirement benefits.

Finance Minister Carlos Leitão tabled Bill 149, An Act to enhance the Québec Pension Plan and to amend various retirement-related legislative provisions, in the province’s national assembly on Nov. 2.

It would make changes to the QPP similar to Canada Pension Plan amendments that Canada’s Parliament passed earlier this year.

The bill would create two plans within the QPP, a base plan (the one that exists now) and an additional one consisting of two contribution levels.

The first additional level, which would apply to earnings up to the yearly maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE), would be phased-in between 2019 and 2023.

The combined employer-employee contribution rate for the first additional level would be 0.3 per cent in 2019, 0.6 per cent in 2020, 1.0 per cent in 2021, 1.5 per cent in 2022, and 2.0 per cent in 2023.

Beginning in 2024, the second additional contribution level would begin. It would apply to pensionable earnings between the YMPE and a new upper earnings limit at a contribution rate of four per cent each for employers and employees.

In 2024, the upper earnings limit would be 107 per cent of the YMPE. In 2025, it would rise to 114 per cent.

The changes would allow the government to raise the QPP’s income replacement level for retirement benefits from one-quarter of pensionable earnings to one-third for those paying contributions between the YMPE and the new upper earnings limit.

Retirement benefits would also rise for those contributing up to the YMPE, but not by as much.