The first strike at Vale Canada in more than a decade is drawing to a close after unionized workers at the Sudbury, Ont., mine ratified a collective agreement that includes improved pension and health benefits. Through the agreement — which expires May 31, 2026 — the monthly pre-age 65 defined benefit pension will increase by $50 to […]
Ontario’s temporary paid sick leave program is receiving less uptake than initially expected. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday that, as of July 21, a total of $13.2 million in claims have been made to the program, which is retroactive to April 19 and ends on Sept. 25. When the program was first launched this […]
Contract negotiations are continuing between Chartwell Master Care and the union representing employees at an Ottawa-area retirement home, after the employer proposed cuts to paid sick days and changes to bereavement leave. The proposed cuts at Chartwell Stonehaven include a reduced annual cap on sick days — from 12 to six — for full-time employees, […]
Lululemon Athletica Inc. is helping employees maintain physical and mental well-being amid the coronavirus pandemic with a series of wellness initiatives. In an emailed statement to Benefits Canada, Angela Wright, vice-president of health and wealth and organization planning at Lululemon, said the company increased its focus on employee well-being during the pandemic, with many existing […]
Nine out of 10 traditional paid leave plans in the U.S. include sick leave in 2021, found a survey by XpertHR, a subsidiary of LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group. The survey, which polled more than 600 U.S. organizations earlier this spring, found about half (51 per cent) of these employers said they provide traditional leave plans […]
Starbucks Corp. is offering all of its Canadian retail employees three temporary paid sick days from April 19 to Sept. 25. The move comes after Ontario announced a similar three-day sick leave policy that would reimburse employers up to $200 a day for what they pay out. Read: Ontario giving employees three paid sick days, […]
Employees affected by the coronavirus in British Columbia will qualify for up to three days of paid sick leave under proposed legislation that Premier John Horgan expects will plug holes in a federal plan and lay the groundwork for a permanent program. Horgan says the program will bridge the gap for workers between the time they first feel […]
While the debate over paid sick days intensifies across Canada, only two provinces currently offer this benefit on a permanent basis. On April 30, Ontario passed a three-day sick leave policy — to be administered through the Workplace Insurance and Safety Board — retroactive to April 19 and ending on Sept. 25. Employers will be […]
Workers in Ontario will soon be able access three paid sick days to help them self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic, but critics said the policy announced April 28 falls far short of what’s required to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government had for months resisted intense pressure from health experts and advocates […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ottawa is in talks with Ontario as the province looks to provide paid sick days to employees, but stressed that such leave should be delivered directly through employers. The prime minister says Ontario should work through provincially-regulated businesses to implement a sick-leave program, as his government did with federally regulated […]