The union representing 33 employees of the Northumberland County social services department says the county is attempting to weaken employees’ short-term disability leave and remove their right to work a compressed workweek. On Dec. 12, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3725 began contract negotiations with the county using a provincially appointed conciliator. Union members […]
iA Financial Group is launching a pilot project to help benefits plan members with medication adherence. The Quebec City-based insurer will offer access to mobile app MedHelper to a few thousand plan members who are taking three or more medications on a daily basis. The plan members can import the list of drugs they take into the […]
Shoppers Drug Mart is partnering with SilverCloud Health Ltd. to make the digital mental-health solutions company’s online cognitive behavioural therapy program available to Canadian plan sponsors. SilverCloud’s digital CBT offering includes behavioural-health coaching support for depression and anxiety from trained social workers, as well as self-help programs on stress management and resiliency. “As the exclusive Canadian partner […]
Express Scripts Canada is launching a medication non-adherence, early-detection program in 2020 to identify plan members who are most likely to cease taking their prescription medications. The program will use proprietary predictive modelling to analyze prescription drug claims and determine who is at risk for potential non-adherence in the future, according to a press release. “Encouraging adherence […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal is poised to hear a case that could clear up the conflicting jurisprudence regarding the point at which limitation periods that apply to disability claims start to run. “The decisions from lower courts are all over the place and the court will have to reconcile them,” says Nainesh Kotak, a […]
Both plan sponsors and plan members are more open to the use of medical cannabis than they were five years ago, according to a new survey by Spectrum Therapeutics, a Canopy Growth Corp. Co. The survey, produced by Benefits Canada‘s publisher Context Group Inc., polled more than 250 plan sponsors and 800 patients who use authorized […]
Both absenteeism and presenteeism affect employers’ bottom lines and employee morale, but does one have more impact on the workplace? Julie Holden, principal at Holden & Associates Ltd. In many ways, employee absence is a major disruption to the workplace and it has become much more complex over the years. On one hand, there’s the […]
Roughly 3,200 Canadian National Railway Co. workers are on strike with outstanding issues including time-off provisions and lifetime caps on certain benefits. The strike, which began at midnight on Nov. 19, has seen conductors, train personnel and yard workers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference pushing for further bargaining progress on these issues and others, including safety and fatigue. […]
Flexible office spaces and co-working locations could contribute more than $13.7 billion to local Canadian economies in the next decade as they become more prevalent outside of major urban centres, according to a new study commissioned by global flexible working space firm Regus. The study found, on average, 144 new jobs are created in Canadian communities […]
SSQ Life Insurance Co. Inc. is partnering with Haleo and MindBeacon Software Inc. to offer digital cognitive behavioural therapy to group insurance plan members. Both companies offer online CBT, with Haleo’s tool focusing on sleep disorders and MindBeacon’s option directed at mild to moderate anxiety and depression symptoms. The partnerships are part of a broader digital health strategy, according to the insurer, which is aiming to […]