Tag: Federal

Federal Budget 2013

· 8 min read

On March 21, 2013, the Minister of Finance, the Honourable James M. Flaherty, tabled the 2013 Federal Budget “Jobs, Growth and Long Term Prosperity – Economic Action Plan 2013.” In this FTR Now we review those Budget items that are of most interest to employers, human resources professionals and pension plan administrators. These include: Amendments…

Federal Gender Identity, Gender Expression Bill Passes Third Reading

· 1 min read

On March 20, 2013, Bill C-279, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression), a Private Member’s Bill, passed Third Reading in the House of Commons and proceeded to the Senate for debate. If passed, Bill C-279 will add gender identity and gender expression as…

Certain Old Age Security Amendments Contained in Federal Budget Bill Now in Force

· 1 min read

The federal government has fixed March 1, 2013 as the day sections 449, 450 and 453 of the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act (“JGLPA”) come into force. These sections amend the Old Age Security Act to provide for automatic enrolment of eligible persons for Old Age Security (“OAS”) pensions, to allow an eligible person…

Rules Amending Federal Courts Rules Registered

· 1 min read

On February 8, 2013, the federal government registered Rules Amending the Federal Courts Rules (“Rules”). The Rules are the result of a consultation process and are housekeeping in nature. Among other things, the Rules give greater flexibility to the Chief Justice to schedule motions days, specify formatting requirements for documents, set out exceptions to general…

Federal Court Affirms Employer’s Obligation to Accommodate Childcare Needs

· 6 min read

The Federal Court of Canada has upheld the finding of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (“Tribunal”) that “family status” under the Canadian Human Rights Act (“CHRA”) includes a parent’s obligations to care for a child, and that an employer is obligated to provide accommodation for an employee’s childcare needs. This decision is the latest in…

An Employment Contract, A Without Cause Termination and the Availability of “Unjust Dismissal” Protection

· 1 min read

Klein and The Royal Canadian Mint, a recent adjudication award made under the Canada Labour Code, affirms the proposition that the unjust dismissal provisions do not protect all employees from termination without cause, particularly where such terminations are conducted in accordance with a binding employment contract. In this case, the complainant had signed an employment…

Preparing for Canada’s New Anti-Spam Legislation

· 12 min read

Canada’s new anti-spam legislation is coming soon. Commonly referred to as “CASL”, the new legislation will impose strict obligations that apply to a range of business emails and other electronic communications that you might not consider to be “spam”. All businesses, even those without formal email marketing programs, should assess their potential exposure to CASL…

Amendments to CIRB Regulations Now in Force

· 2 min read

On December 18, 2012, the federal government registered Regulations Amending the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2001 (“Regulations”), which amend the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2001 (“CIRBR”) made under the Canada Labour Code (“Code”). As previously reported, the government had invited comments on the proposed Regulations in November 2012. The Regulations came into force…