On April 23, 2015, the Ontario government tabled the 2015 provincial Budget, “Building Ontario Up” (“Budget”) and Bill 91, Building Ontario Up Act (Budget Measures), 2015 (“Bill 91”), supporting omnibus legislation designed to implement some of the proposals contained in the Budget. We are in the process of reviewing the Budget and Bill 91, and…
Industry: Professional & Technical Services
Federal Budget 2015
On April 21, 2015, the Minister of Finance tabled the 2015 Federal Budget, “Strong Leadership: A Balanced-Budget, Low-Tax Plan for Jobs, Growth and Security.” This FTR Now focuses on some of the key proposals that are of particular interest to employers, human resources professionals and pension plan administrators. These include: changes to registered retirement income…
WSIB Rate Framework Reform: Stakeholder Input Invited
On March 31, 2015, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) released a number of discussion papers which propose a preliminary Rate Framework which, if adopted, would fundamentally change the way the WSIB classifies Schedule 1 employers and sets its premium rates. Under the proposal, the Secondary Injury and Enhancement Fund (“SIEF”) and existing experience…
HRTO Clarifies the Scope of Employer and Service Provider Code Obligations
Two recent decisions from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) provide helpful guidance on the scope of employer and service provider obligations under the Human Rights Code (“Code”), including the proper scope of the duty to accommodate and the question of who may bring a Code application. In this FTR Now, we review these…
FSCO Updates Form 1 (Pension Plan Registration), Asset Transfer FAQs
On April 7, 2015, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (“FSCO”) published a revised Application for Registration of a Pension Plan, Form 1 and added new frequently asked questions for plan administrators (“FAQs”) with respect to Multi-Jurisdictional Pension Plan Asset Transfers, among other things. The Form 1 has been updated to provide FSCO with additional…
Indefinite Suspensions with Pay: The SCC Clarifies the Test for Constructive Dismissal
The Supreme Court of Canada recently considered the common law doctrine of constructive dismissal in Potter v. New Brunswick Legal Aid Services, where a majority of the Court (with two justices concurring in the result) concluded that placing an employee on an indefinite administrative suspension with pay constituted constructive dismissal. It found that even where…
Ontario Minimum Wage Increasing to $11.25 on October 1, 2015
On March 19, 2015, the Ontario government announced that the general minimum wage will increase from $11 to $11.25 per hour, effective October 1, 2015. A list of the new minimum wage rates for students, liquor servers, hunting and fishing guides and homeworkers is available on the Ministry of Labour’s website. Background information on the…
The HRTO and the Duty to Accommodate: How Far Does an Employer Have to Go?
In a helpful decision for employers, Pourasadi v. Bentley Leathers, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) found that an employer’s duty to accommodate did not extend to altering the essential duties of a position. In this case, the Applicant, a retail store manager, requested a workplace accommodation for a wrist injury which prevented her…
New Holiday Pay Provisions Now in Effect
As we reported in our January 2015 FTR Now, significant reforms to the general holiday pay provisions of Part III of the Canada Labour Code come into force effective March 16, 2015. Federally regulated employers are reminded that the amendments include the introduction of a new “holiday pay” formula and the elimination of certain qualifying requirements….
Supreme Court of Canada On Pregnancy and Parental Leave Top-Ups
The Supreme Court of Canada recently upheld a decision of a British Columbia arbitrator which had found that denying birth mothers entitlement to parental supplemental employment (“SEB” or “top-up”) benefits where they had received pregnancy SEB plan benefits was discriminatory. The issue before the arbitrator turned on an interpretation of the collective agreement in place…