While 2017 was a relatively uneventful year in terms of legislative changes affecting pension plans, 2018 promises to be more significant, at least for many defined benefit plan sponsors in Ontario. The changes to the Ontario Pension Benefits Act scheduled to come into force during the coming year include: Funding and governance policies: Plan administrators will need to establish […]
When an employee returns to work after a disability, it can be a stressful and overwhelming time for the employer, the employee and the team as a whole, as they navigate the challenges of their new reality. Employers may be anxious to have the employee back at work making up for lost time or productivity, or […]
Canada’s demographic picture has changed significantly since the launch of the Canada Pension Plan in 1966. With census data showing more single-person households, is it time for the CPP and other defined benefit pension plans to update their plan design to reflect the new realities? Provincial legislation typically requires defined benefit plans to provide survivor pensions to […]
New labour law changes, particularly enhanced leave provisions in Ontario, are likely to increase costs and administrative challenges for employers, according to one expert. Amendments in Ontario’s Bill 148, which took effect on Jan. 1, include 10 days of personal emergency leave, two of which are paid; a new domestic violence leave of 10 days, five […]
One summer, as a university student in the mid-1970s, Frances Gallop was working at a restaurant where the manager sexually harassed nearly every female employee. “I don’t think any of us had even heard the term sexual harassment. We just knew that his behaviour was very obnoxious and unwanted,” says Gallop, now a partner at […]
With the majority of the amendments in Bill 148 taking effect in Ontario in early December, it requires employers in the province to undertake a review of their employment policies and practices to ensure compliance. The bill followed recommendations put forth in June 2017 as part of the Changing Workplace Review. The goal of the review was to […]
Alberta is implementing it’s first job-protected bereavement leave as of Jan. 1, 2018. In addition to the death of an immediate family member or of a spouse, the three-day unpaid leave is also available for the loss of a person the employee isn’t related to but considers to be like a close relative. Bereavement leave is available for employees across […]
The Ontario financial regulator’s move to wind up the Sears Canada Inc. pension plan will be proceeding to a hearing after a creditor of the struggling retailer requested one. Sears itself didn’t request a hearing, which interested parties had the ability to do up until a mid-December deadline. The creditor, 1291079 Ontario Ltd., made the request on […]
What should an employer say when asked about a former employee who wasn’t up to scratch? The issue arose in Papp v. Stokes earlier this year, a case in which Adam Papp sued his former employer for wrongful dismissal, defamation and mental suffering. Among other things, when asked by a potential employer whether he’d rehire […]
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is expanding its work-related mental-stress policy following decisions at the appeals tribunal that found the limits currently placed on entitlement criteria are unconstitutional. Over the last few years, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal has issued several decisions that determined the provisions in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act limiting entitlement only […]