FTR Quarterly – Issue 9

In This Issue Sexual Harassment: Best Practices for Proactive Employers and Service Providers FTRQ&A – Customer-to-Customer Harassment: Service Provider Liability Questions, Answered Tips for Conducting Harassment Investigations Sexual Harassment and Your Organization: Best Practice Tips for Boards of Directors For Your Workplace, At Your Workplace: Hicks Morley’s On-Site Learn-by-Doing Training Programs Featured Articles Sexual Harassment:…

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Finds Benefit Plan Can Exclude Medical Marijuana

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal recently confirmed that an administrator of a benefit plan may choose what specific drugs and medications will be covered by a plan, and in particular, held that the exclusion of medical marijuana is not discriminatory under human rights legislation. In Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Fund v. Skinner, an…

Ontario Passes Pay Transparency Legislation

On April 26, 2018, Bill 3, the Pay Transparency Act, 2018, passed Third Reading, as amended by the Standing Committee on Social Policy. As we previously reported, Bill 3 enacts new rules governing the disclosure of information about the compensation of employees and prospective employees. Among other things, it requires “employers” (as the term is…

Recent Legislative Initiatives of Interest to School Boards

Recent legislative changes in Ontario will have a significant impact on school boards. First, school boards will now be required to adopt a code of conduct that applies to trustees. Second, as of January 1, 2018, entitlement to benefits for chronic mental stress is compensable under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997

Arbitrator Finds Co-ordinator Duties Should Be Considered in Assessing Whether a Professor Has Sessional Status

An arbitration award in St Lawrence College and OPSEU Local 417 rendered on March 26, 2018 is potentially very significant to the distribution of work between full-time, sessional, partial load and part-time professors by a college. This College Update reviews the award and its possible impact on college staffing decisions going forward.

Medical Marijuana in Your Workplace: Employer FAQs

Today – April 20 (4/20) – marks cannabis culture’s unofficial day of celebration, and we thought “weed” mark the occasion by answering a few common employer questions. When do I have to accommodate medical marijuana? While employers have no obligation to permit recreational consumption of marijuana at work or tolerate impairment, they must appropriately accommodate…

Pension Funding Reform Continues: Taking Aim at Target Benefit Multi-Employer Pension Plans

Pension plans that meet the definition of specified Ontario multi-employer pension plans (SOMEPPs) are one step closer to having the option to convert accrued defined benefits (DB) to target benefits (TB) – and one step closer to a permanent exemption from solvency funding. If your organization participates in a SOMEPP, find out what this could mean for your organization in this FTR Now.

Regulations Filed Supporting Discharge of Pension Plan Administrator Upon Purchase of Annuities

On April 3, 2018, the government filed O. Reg. 193/18 (Purchase of Pension Benefits From an Insurance Company – Section 43.1 of the Act) under the Pension Benefits Act (PBA), which complements the recent funding reforms announced for defined benefit pension (DB) plans (the Regulation). As previously discussed, the government proposed rules to support a discharge…

MOL’s ESA Guide Update for Equal Pay Provisions

We recently reported on the coming into force of the equal pay for equal work changes under Bill 148, Reminder: Equal Pay for Equal Work Provisions in Force April 1, 2018. The Ministry of Labour has recently updated its online Guide to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (Guide) to address equal pay for equal work…