Regulations Amending the Canada Labour Standards Regulations: SOR/2019-168

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 153, Number 12

Registration
SOR/2019-168 June 3, 2019

CANADA LABOUR CODE

P.C. 2019-603 May 31, 2019

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Labour, pursuant to subsection 175(1), section 190 footnote a, subsections 203(2) footnote b, 206.6(5) footnote c and 206.7(6) footnote d, section 209.4 footnote e, subsection 210(3) footnote f and section 264 footnote g of the Canada Labour Code footnote h, makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Canada Labour Standards Regulations.

Regulations Amending the Canada Labour Standards Regulations

Amendments

1 The long title of the Canada Labour Standards Regulations footnote 1 is replaced by the following:

Canada Labour Standards Regulations

2 Section 1 of the Regulations and the heading before it are repealed.

3 Sections 4 and 5 of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

4 If, in accordance with subsection 170(1) or 172(1) of the Act, the parties to a collective agreement have agreed in writing to a modified work schedule, the agreement shall be dated and contain the information set out in paragraphs (a) to (m) of Schedule III.

5 A notice that is referred to in subsection 170(3) or 172(3) of the Act shall contain the information set out in Schedule III and remain posted while the modified work schedule is in effect.

4 (1) Paragraph 6(6)(c) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) Paragraphs 6(7)(a) and (b) of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

(3) Paragraphs 6(7)(d) and (e) of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

(4) Subsection 6(8) of the Regulations is amended by striking out “or” at the end of paragraph (b), by adding “or” at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following after paragraph (c):

(5) Subsection 6(13) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(13) If, before the end of an averaging period, an employer alters the number of weeks in the averaging period applicable to employees or ceases to calculate the average hours of work of employees, the employer shall, for each hour worked in excess of 40 times the number of weeks in the completed part of the averaging period,

5 (1) Paragraph 10(1)(a) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) The portion of paragraph 10(1)(b) of the Regulations before subparagraph (i) is replaced by the following:

(3) Subparagraph 10(1)(b)(ii) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(4) Subparagraph 10(1)(b)(iv) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(5) Subparagraph 10(1)(b)(v) of the English version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

6 Subsection 13(4) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(4) An employer shall pay to an employee who is entitled to it the vacation pay referred to in subparagraph 185(b)(i) of the Act or the amount referred to in subparagraph 185(b)(ii) of the Act, as the case may be,

7 (1) The heading before section 17 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Regular Rate of Wages for Purposes of General Holidays, Personal Leave, Leave for Victims of Family Violence and Bereavement Leave

(2) The portion of section 17 of the Regulations before paragraph (b) is replaced by the following:

17 For the purposes of subsections 206.6(2), 206.7(2.1) and 210(2) of the Act, the regular rate of wages of an employee whose hours of work differ from day to day or who is paid on a basis other than time shall be

8 Subsection 19(6) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(6) For the purposes of subsection 177.1(1), paragraph 206(1)(a), subsections 206.1(1), 206.4(2) and (2.1), 206.5(2) and (3), 206.6(2), 206.7(2.1), 206.8(1), 210(2), 230(1) and 235(1), paragraphs 239(1)(a) and 240(1)(a) and subsection 247.5(1) of the Act, if an employee is engaged in multi-employer employment, that employee is deemed to be continuously employed.

9 (1) Paragraph 24(2)(e) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) Paragraph 24(2)(g) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(3) Subsection 24(2) of the Regulations is amended by adding the following after paragraph (g.1):

(4) Subparagraph 24(2)(h)(iii) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(5) Paragraphs 24(2)(i) and (j) of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

(6) Paragraphs 24(2)(m) and (n) of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

(7) Subparagraph 24(2)(o)(i) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(8) Subparagraphs 24(2)(o)(ii) to (iv) of the French version of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

10 The heading before section 29 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Continuity of Employment

11 Item 32 of Part I of Schedule I to the French version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

32 Centre des services de comptabilité

12 Schedule II to the Regulations is replaced by Schedule II set out in the schedule to these Regulations.

13 (1) Paragraph (b) of Schedule III to the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) Paragraph (d) of Schedule III to the Regulations is replaced by the following:

In each work week :
(The number of hours in a work day and in a work week may be specified by attaching the work schedule of the affected employee or employees.)

(3) Note 2 of Schedule III to the Regulations is replaced by the following:

2 This work schedule is posted in accordance with subsections 170(2) and (3) and 172(2) and (3) of the Canada Labour Code. These provisions require that notice of the proposed work schedule be posted for at least 30 days prior to its coming into effect and that the affected employee or at least 70% of affected employees, as the case may be, approve the schedule. Section 5 of the Canada Labour Standards Regulations requires that details of the modified work schedule be posted and kept posted as long as the work schedule is in effect.

14 (1) Paragraph (b) of Schedule IV to the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) The note of Schedule IV to the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Note:

This notice is posted in accordance with section 6 of the Canada Labour Standards Regulations, which requires that the employer notify the affected employee or employees of details of the averaging of hours of work at least 30 days before the averaging takes effect and that the information contained in this notice remain posted for the duration of the averaging of hours of work.

Coming into Force

15 These Regulations come into force on the day on which section 195 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, chapter 33 of the Statutes of Canada, 2017, comes into force, but if they are registered after that day, they come into force on the day on which they are registered.

SCHEDULE

(Section 12)

SCHEDULE II

(Subsection 25(2))

Notice Related to the Canada Labour Code — Part III

Part III of the Canada Labour Code contains provisions setting out minimum labour standards for employers and employees in the federal jurisdiction.

These provisions include standards relating to the following:

For more information concerning these provisions, please contact your nearest Labour Program office of the Department of Employment and Social Development or visit the following website:

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/employment-standards/federal-standards.html

All inquiries will be treated confidentially.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

The Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, which received royal assent on December 14, 2017, and the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, which received royal assent on December 13, 2018, include provisions that amend Part III (Labour Standards) of the Canada Labour Code (the Code) to include a new right for employees to request flexible work arrangements, new leaves and other new measures supporting flexibility in the workplace.

The changes to the Code, which are being brought into force concurrently with the adoption of these regulations, will support employees in achieving better work-life balance and benefit employers through increased productivity, decreased absenteeism, enhanced recruitment and retention, and more flexible and effective workforce utilization. They will also support women’s participation in the labour market and help foster greater gender equality in Canada’s workforce and contribute to inclusive growth.

In addition to the new right to request flexible work arrangements, changes to the Code include three new leaves, that is, Personal Leave of up to five days with the first three days paid; Leave for Traditional Aboriginal Practices of up to five days; and Leave for Victims of Family Violence of up to ten days with five of these days paid. A further change to the Code expands Bereavement Leave from three to five days with the first three days paid. Finally, changes to the Code introduce provisions supporting flexibility in the workplace including: extending the ability of employers and individual employees to modify work schedules and substitute general holidays; requiring at least 96 hours’ notice of an employee’s schedule; requiring at least 24 hours’ notice before a shift change; allowing the compensation of overtime through paid time off; providing employees a limited right to refuse overtime; allowing for the division, interruption and postponement of vacation leave; and repealing of the requirement to establish a Commission of Inquiry before making or amending regulations relating to certain hours of work provisions.

Consequential amendments to the Canada Labour Standards Regulations (Regulations) are required to align the Regulations with the new and amended Code provisions and to support their implementation. Other housekeeping amendments are needed to address other editorial and alignment issues.

Description

Consequential technical amendments

The following consequential amendments to the Regulations are required in order to align the Regulations with the new and amended Code provisions.

Modified work schedules and maximum hours of work

The Code provisions regarding modified work schedules and maximum hours of work were amended to extend the employer’s ability to modify work schedules in relation to individual employees. As such, Schedule III of the Regulations containing the information to be posted by the employer for 30 days before the work schedule of one employee takes effect is amended to reflect its application to one employee.

Overtime pay or time off

The Code was amended to provide that, where the employer agrees, employees may take time off instead of receiving pay for overtime hours worked. Accordingly, where reference is made in the Regulations to overtime pay, the provisions, where appropriate, are amended to be made more general and inclusive of the possibility that over time hours may not necessarily be paid, but may alternatively be taken as time off.

Annual vacations

The Code was amended to provide for annual vacation to be taken in more than one period and provides that, in such cases, the employer pays to the employee the proportion of the vacation pay corresponding with the amount of vacation taken. Accordingly, the Regulations outlining the timing of vacation pay payment in one period are amended to reflect proportionality of payment to the amount of vacation taken where vacation is taken in more than one period.

Averaging

Where the nature of the work necessitates an irregular distribution of hours of work, an employer may average hours of work over a period of two weeks or more. This changes the way in which overtime hours are calculated. Therefore, the Regulations are amended to ensure that any paid days taken under both the new Personal Leave and the new Leave for Victims of Family Violence are included in the calculation of standard, maximum and overtime hours where an averaging plan is in place.

Regular rate of wages

The Regulations set out the calculation of an employee’s “regular rate of wages” where their hours of work differ from day to day or where they are paid on a basis other than time. The new Personal Leave and Leave for Victims of Family Violence are added to this provision to ensure that new paid leaves are captured in the calculation of an employee’s regular rate of wages in the circumstances described.

Multi-employer employment

Employees employed by multiple employers, specifically in the long-shoring industry, are not necessarily considered continuously employed. For the purposes of qualifying for certain leaves, the Regulations deem employees engaged in multi-employer employment to be continuously employed. To ensure that employees engaged in multi-employer employment are entitled to the paid portion of the new Personal Leave, the paid portion of the Leave for Victims of Family Violence and the new Leave for Traditional Aboriginal Practices, all with three-month continuity of employment requirements, the Regulations are amended to include these leaves in the list of leaves for which employment is deemed to be continuous.

Bereavement leave

The Code was amended to increase the amount of entitlement to bereavement leave from three to five days. It entitles employees who have completed three consecutive months of continuous employment to be paid for the first three of these days and to take the leave in one or two periods. As such, an employee may take the paid portion of the leave in two separate periods. Consequently, the Regulations are amended to indicate that where the paid portion of the leave is taken in two periods, each period will be paid in the manner currently outlined in the Regulations (i.e. the average of the employee’s daily earnings exclusive of overtime hours for the 20 days the employee has worked immediately preceding the first day of leave).

Consequential compliance requirements: record keeping

Amendments to the Regulations to establish record-keeping requirements are necessary to enable implementation and enforcement of the Code amendments. The Regulations are amended to require employers to keep the following records for a period of at least three years after work is performed:

Modified work schedules and maximum hours of work: The Code was amended to allow modified work schedules, including those under which the hours exceed the maximum set out in the Code, to apply to individual employees, not just to groups of employees (i.e. “one or more employees”). Following this, the employer is required to keep a record of any written agreement entered into with one or more employees with respect to a modified work schedule.

Schedule changes: With the amendment to the Code requiring employers to provide an employee with their work schedule in writing at least 96 hours before the start of the employee’s first work period or shift under that schedule, the employer is required to keep a record of the work schedule. Further, with the amendment to the Code to allow for the possibility that an employee may refuse to work any work period or shift in their schedule that starts within 96 hours from the time that the schedule is provided to them, the employer is required to keep a record of any such employee refusal and a record explaining the nature of the situation that made it necessary for the employee to work, why it could not have been reasonably foreseeable and the nature of the threat it posed.

Shift changes: With the amendment of the Code requiring employers to provide 24-hour notice of any change to a period or shift during which an employee is due to work, the employer is required to keep a record of any written notice provided in advance of any shift change or change to a period of work.

Overtime pay or time off: With the amendment of the Code permitting employees to take time off instead of payment for overtime work, the employer is required to keep a record of any written agreement between the employer and employee to substitute time off in lieu of payment for overtime.

Right to refuse overtime: With the amendment of the Code to allow employees, subject to specified limits, to refuse to work the overtime requested by the employer, the employer is required to keep a record of any employee refusal of overtime and a record explaining the nature of the situation that made it necessary for the employee to work, why it could not have been reasonably foreseeable and the nature of the threat it posed.

Flexible work arrangements: With the introduction of the new right for employees to request flexible work arrangements, the employer is required to keep a record of

Annual vacations: With the amendment of the Code permitting employees to take annual vacation in more than one period or to interrupt or postpone the annual vacation, the employer is required to keep a record of

General holidays: With the amendment to the Code enabling employers to permit the substitution of any other day of work for a general holiday, the employer is required to keep a record of any written agreement with any one employee to the substitution of a general holiday.

New leaves: With the addition of three new leaves to the Code, i.e. Personal Leave, Leave for Victims of Family Violence and Leave for Traditional Aboriginal Practices, the employer is required to keep a record of

For the purposes of providing documentation supporting the reasons an employee may provide for taking either Personal Leave or Leave for Victims of Family Violence as well as for the purposes of providing documentation that shows an employee as Aboriginal, the employee shall provide that documentation only if it is reasonably practicable for him or her to obtain and provide it.

Bereavement leave: The Code was amended to increase bereavement leave from three to five days, with the first three days paid. It was further amended to provide for the possibility that the leave be taken in one or two periods, and that the period during which the leave may be taken be extended. As such, the employer is required to keep a record of:

Miscellaneous amendments

Schedule II of the Regulations is intended to be an exhaustive list of labour standards under Part III of the Code which employers are required to post in an accessible location in order to ensure employees are aware of their rights under the Code. Therefore, Schedule II is amended to include the new hours of work standards for schedule and shift changes, the new Division on Flexible Work Arrangements and the three new leaves.

Finally, housekeeping amendments are made to

Regulatory development

Consultation

In developing the proposed amendments to the Regulations, the Labour Program consulted with stakeholders including employer and employee representatives, union representatives, stakeholders in the long-shoring industry, National Indigenous Organizations, Modern Treaty Holders and organizations involved in the prevention of violence.

The above-noted stakeholders were invited to provide written comments on a discussion paper which was circulated on August 30, 2018, for a five-week comment period. In addition, a subset of these stakeholders consisting of members of the newly inaugurated Labour Standards Advisory Committee was invited to provide their input on the proposed amendments, as well as the information on costs and benefits of associated administrative burden during the Committee’s meeting on September 27, 2018.

In addition, the Labour Program led a targeted consultation with National Indigenous Organizations and Modern Treaty Holders on the proposed amendments relating to the new Leave for Traditional Aboriginal Practices. On August 17, 2018, the Labour Program shared a discussion paper on the proposed regulatory amendments including targeted questions regarding the new leave for a seven-week comment period. Further, a meeting was organized to solicit feedback on the proposed amendments.

The majority of stakeholders expressed support for the proposed regulatory amendments. Stakeholders representing both employers and employees in the long-shoring industry advised that no modifications to the Regulations were necessary in order to implement the new right to request flexible work arrangements to the multi-employer employment setting. Both employer and union representatives advised that employees employed by multiple employers in long-shoring are currently able to request flexible work arrangements. Employees working on a dispatch system set their own hours of work on a daily basis, as long they comply with set ordering times and work periods of varying duration.

Stakeholders expressed interest in the implementation of the proposed Code and regulatory amendments suggesting various tools and means of communication in order to ensure an effective transition. These proposals will be taken into account in the lead up to and following the implementation of the new provisions.

The regulations were not prepublished in the Canada Gazette, Part I, as they are exclusively consequential or miscellaneous in nature and they are aimed at aligning the Regulations with the new and amended Code provisions.

Modern treaty obligations and Indigenous engagement and consultation

Part III of the Code applies to governance and administration of Band Councils and federal works, undertakings and businesses under exclusive federal jurisdiction. Employees who fall within the above criteria would benefit from the amendments to the Code, particularly a new Leave for Traditional Aboriginal Practices. In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Federal Approach to Modern Treaty Implementation, a modern treaty implications assessment was conducted for the legislative proposal, indicating that it was unlikely to result in implications related to specific modern treaty obligations.

Nonetheless, the Labour Program pursed targeted consultations with National Indigenous Organizations and Modern Treaty Holders in order to enable those who would be impacted by the leave to state their views on the regulatory powers established by the changes to the Code.

Instrument choice

The proposed regulatory amendments are consequential in nature and intended to align the Regulations with the new Code provisions. As such, there are no new instruments under consideration.

While numerous regulatory authorities exist among the new provisions in the Code, the Labour Program has opted not to pursue some of these authorities at this time. The program will to monitor how the new Code provisions operate in the workplace before deciding whether to introduce regulations in these areas. Educational materials and operational policies and guidelines will be developed to assist employers and employees with their understanding and application of the Code amendments.

Regulatory analysis

The amendments are consequential and administrative in nature requiring employers to keep records of various leaves and notices. They will affect approximately 18 000 employers and 900 000 employees in federally regulated industrial sectors, footnote 2 and are expected to be of low impact.

Costs and benefits

The scope of this cost-benefit analysis is to determine incremental social impacts as the result of implementing the regulatory amendments. Even though flexible work arrangements and other types of new leaves will benefit employees by improving their work-life balance increasing their productivity, these benefits are driven by changes made to the Code, and are therefore beyond the scope of this analysis. The regulatory amendments will clarify what records must be kept, thereby benefiting employers by providing clear guidance for them to comply with government inspection and enforcement activities.

During consultations, employer representatives indicated that many of the changes made in the Code, including the three new leaves (i.e. Personal Leave, Leave for Victims of Family Violence, and Leave for Traditional Aboriginal Practices), are already offered by them to employees. Employer representatives also indicated that they are already in the practice of keeping the records (mostly in electronic format such as emails) corresponding to the requests. As a result, the expected costs of record keeping are expected to be nominal.

However, based on various sources, such as Statistics Canada led Federal Jurisdiction Workplace Survey (FJWS, 2004, 2008 and 2015), the General Social Survey (2012), as well as an impact assessment on providing flexible work arrangements in the United Kingdom (UK) completed in 2012, footnote 3 it is expected that a few changes made in the Code would result in additional leave requests or notices footnote 4, and therefore employers would need to keep these records. These items, as well as the related assumptions made by the Labour Program based on stakeholder consultations for the cost-benefit analysis, are listed below.

It is assumed that an employer will delegate an administrative clerk to perform these learning and record-keeping activities, who will spend five minutes on keeping each additional record or calculating pay related to the second period of bereavement leave. The average hourly wage rate for an administrative clerk in 2017 was about $25.18. footnote 5 A 25% overhead rate is also included in addition to the clerk’s wage rate. Since the regulatory amendments are expected to come into force in June 2019, it is assumed that the costs of record keeping in 2019 will be half of those in subsequent years. Furthermore, the populations of both federally regulated employers and employees are assumed to increase by about 0.9% per year. footnote 6 Unless stated otherwise, all costs are expressed in present values (PV, $2018, 7% discount rate) over a 10-year timeframe (2019–2028).

Learning about administrative requirements

Employers will need to familiarize themselves with new record-keeping requirements in the Regulations when they come into force in 2019. Since these requirements are straightforward, it is assumed that each employer would spend 30 minutes to learn these requirements. This one-time cost for all federally regulated employers is approximately $277,000.

Keeping records of notices and employees’ requests
Employers to provide 24-hour notice of any shift change

It is estimated that 80% of employers in federally-regulated industries have hired employees with non-standard and irregular shifts, 77% of whom have provided notices to employees of one day or less for shift changes. Therefore, the changes to the Code will enable the remaining 23% of these employers to provide notices of changing shifts 24 hours in advance. It is assumed that only half of these employers, or about 9% of total employers, will have the need to ask employees to change shifts per year, and therefore need to keep these records. The associated additional cost to affected employers is about $31,000.

Refusal of overtime

It is estimated that 21% of employees in federally regulated industries work overtime, half of whom work in companies with partial or full restriction on the right to refuse overtime. Therefore, the changes to the Code will enable about 10% of employees to refuse overtime. It is assumed that half of these employees, or about 5% of total employees, will refuse working overtime per year, and employers will need to keep these records. Costs associated with keeping these records to affected employers are estimated at $890,000.

Request for flexible work arrangement

The Code entitles employees, who have at least six consecutive months of continuous employment with an employer, the right to request a flexible work arrangement. They represent about 90% of total federally regulated employees. It is found that 60% of these employees are already provided options on flexible work arrangements. The changes to the Code will therefore enable the remaining 40% of these employees, or about 36% of total employees, to make such requests. It is estimated that, on average, 0.25% of these remaining employees, or approximately 0.09% of total employees, will request flexible work arrangements per year, and therefore employers will need to keep these records. The associated additional cost to affected employers is approximately $15,000.

Request for bereavement leave in two periods

Currently, employers already keep records of employees taking bereavement leave. Assuming each employee has six immediate family members and with the annual gross mortality rate in Canada of 0.74% per year, footnote 7 it is estimated that about 4.4% of employees will request bereavement leaves per year. With the new possibility of taking this leave in two periods, employers will need to keep records of any request for the second period of leave. It is assumed that half of these employees, or about 2.2% of employees, who request bereavement leave will take it in two periods. The associated additional cost to affected employers is approximately $376,000.

Calculation of payment of second bereavement leave

For the above mentioned 2.2% of employees who will take bereavement leave in two periods, employers will now need to calculate the leave payment for the second period of leave. The associated additional cost to affected employers is approximately $376,000.

In total, these new record-keeping requirements will cost affected federally regulated employers approximately $1.96 million, or an annualized cost of $0.28 million.

The Labour Program is unable to quantify the cost to replace an employee who has refused to work any period or shift commencing within 96 hours. Also, an additional record will be required for each schedule change and refusal to work explaining the nature of the situation that made it necessary for the request that employee work at that time, why it could not have been reasonably foreseeable and the nature of the threat posed. However, based on stakeholder consultations, it is expected that these additional costs will be insignificant.

Small business lens

The small business lens applies as there are impacts on small businesses associated with the amendments. A small business is any business, including its affiliates, that has fewer than 100 employees or less than $5 million in annual gross revenues. footnote 8 Based on the Federal Jurisdiction Workplace Survey conducted in 2015, approximately 96% of federally regulated employers were small business owners who employed about 13% of total federally regulated employees. Assuming both percentages of small business employers and employees are unchanged for the period between 2019 and 2028, and applying them to costs previously estimated, the total costs in present value to small businesses for this 10-year timeframe are approximately $511,000, or an annualized cost of $73,000. No flexible approaches were considered for small businesses because the costs to them were not considered disproportionate.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule applies since there is an incremental increase in administrative burden on business, and the amendments are considered an “IN” under the rule. The amendments impose additional administrative requirements on employers to keep records of additional notices and requests and to calculate employees’ pay as a result of the second period of bereavement leave. Using the methodology developed in the Red Tape Reduction Regulations, footnote 9 it is estimated that the annualized additional administrative costs imposed on affected federally regulated employers will be $170,775 (present value, $2012, 7% discount rate) for the 10-year period (2019–2028).

Regulatory cooperation and alignment

The proposal is not related to any work plan or commitment under a formal regulatory cooperation forum.

Strategic environmental assessment

In accordance with The Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals, a preliminary scan concluded that a strategic environmental assessment is not required.

Gender-based analysis plus

While no gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) impacts have been identified for these consequential regulatory amendments, they do support implementation of changes to the Code, which are expected to positively impact all employees by providing them with more flexibility to achieve better work-life balance. Female employees will benefit in particular because they are more likely to provide intensive family care and more likely to be the victims of spousal violence than men. The changes to the Code support women’s participation in the labour market and help foster greater gender equality in Canada’s workforce and inclusive growth. Persons with disabilities benefit from the flexibility required to manage health and illness-related concerns that may arise.

Implementation, compliance and enforcement, and service standards

Implementation

In preparation for the coming into force of the amendments on September 1, 2019, the Labour Program will update all relevant publications to reflect the new Code provisions and any new regulatory requirements for employers and employees.

The Labour Program will prepare interpretation and guidance materials for employees and employers on their new rights and responsibilities, specifically to allow employers time to implement any necessary changes to their workplace policies and procedures. These materials will be available on the Canada.ca website.

Further, Labour Program officers and inspectors will receive training on the new provisions in order to carry out their compliance and enforcement duties prior to the coming into force date.

Compliance and enforcement

Currently, compliance with Part III of the Code is achieved using a variety of approaches, including education and counselling, investigation of complaints, inspections of workplaces, wage recovery and adjudication of unpaid wages, unjust dismissal and genetic discrimination complaints.

Labour Standards Inspectors investigate complaints, engage in proactive inspections to verify compliance and provide advice and information materials to assist federally regulated employers and employees in understanding their responsibilities and rights under Part III of the Code. Some tools are available to respond to non-compliance with the Code: issuing a notice of voluntary compliance and seeking an assurance of voluntary compliance from the employer, issuing a determination letter and payment order to recover unpaid wages (or notice of unfounded complaints where no wages are found owing), and providing mediation to try to settle unjust dismissal complaints. Prosecution may be pursued to address the most serious offences.

Contact

Judith Buchanan
Director
Labour Standards – Wage Earner Protection Program
Workplace Directorate
Labour Program
Employment and Social Development Canada
Place du Portage, Phase II, 10th Floor
165 De l’Hôtel-de-Ville Street
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0J9
Email: NA-LABOUR-STANDARDS-NORMES-DU-TRAVAIL-CONSULTATIONS-FLEXWORK-GD@labour-travail.gc.ca