Examining lesser-known payroll rules like equity provisions, wedding leave, jury duty
Good payroll professionals know the rules covering pay statements, deductions, vacations, statutory holidays, and wages in lieu of notice. However, these are not the only employment standards rules with which employers must comply.
Across Canada, employment standards laws contain numerous requirements covering almost all aspects of the employment relationship. Some rules have existed for decades, while others are more recent.
Some standards may not get as much attention in payroll departments, but are still important to know:
Equity provisions: Many areas in Canada have equal pay for equal work provisions in their employment standards laws.
The standards prohibit employers from paying employees of one sex at a different pay rate when they do substantially the same work in the same workplace under similar working conditions, and the work requires substantially the same skill, effort, and responsibility.
The provisions also bar employers from reducing an employee’s pay rate to comply with the equal pay requirements.
While the rules vary between jurisdictions, most allow for exceptions to the equal pay requirements if the difference in pay rate is based on factors such as a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or another system or practice that is allowed by law.
In jurisdictions that have not added equity provisions to their employment standards legislation, employers may be bound by equal pay requirements under human rights laws. For instance, Alberta and British Columbia do not have equity requirements under employment standards, but both include prohibitions on wage discrimination in their human rights legislation.
Ontario’s employment standards equity requirements go beyond sex-related pay differences. As of April 1, the government added provisions that prohibit employers from paying casual, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees at a lower pay rate than they pay their full-time/permanent employees if the workers do substantially the same kind of work in the same establishment under similar working conditions, and their job requires substantially the same skill, effort, and responsibility, with some exceptions.
The new rules also prohibit temporary help agencies from paying assignment employees working for a client at a pay rate less than the rate paid to the client’s employees if they do substantially the same kind of work in the same workplace, with exceptions where the rate difference is based on any factor other than sex, employment status, or assignment employee status.
Employees who believe that their employer (including temporary help agencies) is not complying with the equity provisions to request that the employer review their pay rate.
Upon request, employers must either adjust the employee’s rate of pay or notify the employee in writing as to why they think the difference is justified.
Quebec prohibits employers from applying less-advantageous working conditions to employees doing the same work in the same establishment, based solely on the date they hired the employees. The conditions of employment covered include: wages; hours of work; rest periods; statutory holidays; vacations; leaves of absence for family or parental reasons or for sickness, organ or tissue donations, or an accident or a criminal offence; special clothing; and termination of employment.
There are some exceptions, including differences due to seniority or years of service, a special arrangement for disabled employees, and temporary conditions resulting from an employer reclassifying or demoting an employee or from a business undergoing a merger or an internal reorganization.
Quebec’s act respecting labour standards also prohibits employers from paying part-time employees at a lower wage rate than other employees doing the same tasks in the same workplace solely because they work fewer hours a week. The prohibition does not apply to employees whose pay rate is more than two times the minimum wage rate.
Paying employees who cannot be located: Most employment standards acts include provisions setting out employer responsibilities when they cannot locate an employee to whom they owe money.
While requirements vary depending on the jurisdiction, generally employers are required to pay the amount owing to the employment standards director, who will hold the money in trust for the employee. Some jurisdictions specify a deadline for transferring the money to the director.
Wedding leave: Quebec is the only jurisdiction in Canada that permits employees to take time off work for weddings under certain circumstances. Employees may take a day off work with pay on their wedding day. They may also take time off, without pay, on the wedding day of their child, father, mother, brother or sister or of a child of their spouse.
Lie detector tests: New Brunswick and Ontario prohibit employers from requiring or asking employees, including recruits, to take lie detector tests.
The Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 Policy and Interpretation Manual said the government added the prohibition in the early 1980s in response to a growing number of employers implementing mandatory lie detector tests, particularly in pre-employment screening.
Jury duty: While employers in all parts of Canada would be hard-pressed to deny an employee a leave of absence for jury duty, only four jurisdictions — New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Northwest Territories — have included a right to time off for jury duty in their employment standards laws.
The provisions require employers to give employees time off work in order to serve on a jury or attend court as a witness. Employers may not dismiss, lay off, suspend, intimidate, penalize, discipline or discriminate against employees because they take the time off.
The four jurisdictions do not require employers to pay employees while they are off, although they may choose to do so.
The legislation in New Brunswick and N.W.T. allows employers who pay employees during a court leave to request that the employees reimburse them the amount of any jury or witness fee they receive, minus any amounts paid for travel, meals, or accommodation expenses.
Of note, Newfoundland and Labrador requires employers to pay employees while they are serving on a jury, acting as a witness in a court case, or taking part in a public inquiry.
The requirement is not in the province’s Labour Standards Act, but its Jury Act, 1991. It states that employers must continue to pay employees the same wages and provide the same benefits as they would have had the employees not been summoned for the court duties. Employers who fail to comply will face fines of up to $1,000 or, in default of payment, imprisonment of up to three months. In addition, they will be required to pay the outstanding wages and benefits.
Sale or transfer of business: Employment standards laws in all Canadian jurisdictions contain provisions covering employee rights in the event that their employer sells, leases, transfers or merges its business to/with another business.
In general, the laws in all jurisdictions state that a sale, lease, merger, or transfer does not interrupt employees’ employment with their employer. This means that their length of service for determining entitlements such as paid vacations and notice of termination does not change with new ownership of a business.
Specific standards not affected by an ownership change may vary between jurisdictions, with some provinces providing blanket coverage for all standards while others specify which provisions are not impacted.
Ontario and P.E.I. have included an exception, with laws stating that continuity requirements do not apply if more than 13 weeks elapse between an employee’s last day of work with the original employer or the date of the sale, whichever comes first, and the date that the successor employer hires the employee.
