The Conservative Party is promising, if elected, to extend employment insurance parental benefits to parents experiencing the trauma of a miscarriage, stillbirth or loss of a child. “Every year, thousands of Canadian parents struggle with the loss of a child, but our current benefits system does not provide the proper support for grieving parents,” said […]
Confusion as to what constitutes family status discrimination in Canada continues to vex employers. “The Supreme Court of Canada had an opportunity to create a uniform test across the country in 2019 but chose not to hear the case,” says Gary Clarke, the Calgary and Vancouver-based national co-head of Stikeman Elliott LLP’s employment and labour group. […]
Mandy Kwasnica and her husband so desperately wanted to adopt they were ready to sink all of their money (and then some) into making their dream a reality. “Adoption is very, very expensive, but we knew in our hearts that this was the right move we were making,” recalls the manager of mortgage sales support at […]
Employee benefits and total rewards planning have always been a critical element of business planning, but never more so than during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Mercer Canada conducted a recent client poll which showed that unlike previous years, most Canadian organizations still had not set their salary adjustment budget for 2021 as of early November. While […]
New research is suggesting a bump in the number of fathers planning to take time off with a new baby under a nascent national leave program could be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s been more than a year since the Canadian government started offering the use-it-or-lose-it extra weeks of paid leave for non-birthing parents. The program was […]
Manulife Financial Corp. is increasing its family leave support for Canadian employees, providing 20 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of paid parental and adoption leave, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Canadian employees and their dependants also now have access to full gender affirmation coverage for both surgical and non-surgical treatments, as well as […]
Images of parents trying to shush their kids during work Zoom meetings are now as commonplace as, well, Zoom meetings. With many people six months into working from home due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, employers can often literally see employees with kids trying to juggle it all. A new survey by Willis Towers Watson found the three-quarters (74 per […]
Vodacom Group, a South African telecommunications firm, is providing all global employees with 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. Employees will be able to take the leave if they or their partner are having a baby, adopting a child or becoming a parent through surrogacy. They can take […]
Japan Tobacco International is launching a global equal family leave policy for all of its employees. The new global strategy, which goes beyond the national family leave provisions in 80 per cent of the 81 countries in which the multinational is located, offers a minimum of 20 weeks fully paid leave for employees, regardless of […]
The bargaining unit representing University of Ottawa support staff has voted down a so-called final offer from the university by 80 per cent. The unit, which is part of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, is objecting to proposed cuts to certain benefits in the offer, including cuts to the current retirement allowance and parental leave top-ups, as […]