Human Resources Legislative Update
Federal Government to Study Further Changes to Canada Labour Code
Date: February 21, 2019
Following recent amendments to the Canada Labour Code, the federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour has announced the creation of an expert panel tasked with the study of additional matters relating to the “changing nature of work.”
This expert panel is to report back to the Minister by June 30, 2019 on the following issues:
- whether a freestanding federal minimum wage should be reintroduced, as opposed to the current system where the applicable provincial minimum wage applies;
- what protections should apply to workers in “non-traditional employment”, such as independent contractors and those in the “gig economy”;
- whether limits should be set on work-related electronic communications outside of work hours (commonly referred to as the “right to disconnect”);
- access and portability of benefits, such as annual vacation entitlements and medical and retirement savings plans; and
- opportunities for workers in non-unionized settings to speak with a “collective voice”.
Details on the expert panel’s consultation process are expected to be released soon.
In the interim, the federal Labour Program has published a number of issue papers that speak to the five issues that the expert panel has been tasked to study.
Should you have any questions about the issues being studied by the expert panel, or how your organization can participate in the consultation process, please contact your regular Hicks Morley lawyer.
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