Significant amendments to the Employment Insurance Regulations have been filed and were published in the Canada Gazette on November 15, 2017 to implement the availability of Employment Insurance (EI) benefits for the care of critically ill adult family members and the option to extend parental leaves, initiatives outlined in the 2017 Federal Budget. The changes…
Tag: Pregnancy/Parental Benefits
Kathryn Bird Quoted in Benefits Canada on Structuring Top-Up Benefits to Avoid Discrimination Claims
Benefits Canada quoted Hicks Morley’s Kathryn J. Bird in a June 27, 2017 article titled “Structuring top-up benefits to avoid discrimination claims.”
The article explores how top-up benefits must be offered by employers to all staffers in the same situation, otherwise they could face a potential discrimination claims, even-though offering said benefits is completely…
EI Regulations Amended, Implementing Reduced One-Week Waiting Period
As expected, key amendments to the federal Employment Insurance Act reducing the Employment Insurance (EI) waiting period from two weeks to one week were proclaimed in force effective January 1, 2017…
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…