Changes in payroll laws and regulations from across Canada
Alberta
Legislature passes farm worker bill
The provincial legislature has passed legislation to make it mandatory for paid farm and ranch workers to be covered under the province’s employment standards and workers’ compensation laws.
Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act, received royal assent on Dec. 11. It removes a number of farming-related industries from a list of those exempted from workers’ compensation coverage under the Workers’ Compensation Regulation. The new rules came into effect on Jan. 1, but the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) says it is giving employers in those industries that employ paid workers until Apr. 30 to set up a WCB account.
The bill also amends the Employment Standards Code to repeal exemptions from a number of provisions in the legislation for employees on a farm or ranch whose jobs are directly related to the primary production of eggs, milk, grain, seeds, fruit, vegetables, honey, livestock, bees, poultry, etc.
The changes mean these workers will now be protected by the code’s provisions for hours of work, overtime, statutory holidays, vacations and minimum wage, among others. The government says the employment standards amendments will take effect in the spring after it holds consultations with industry groups on exemptions that may be required in unique situations.
Other acts that the bill amends include the Labour Relations Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
New Brunswick
Minimum wage going up
The minimum wage rate in New Brunswick will rise to $10.65 an hour on Apr. 1, Premier Brian Gallant announced. The minimum wage is currently $10.30.
Previously, Gallant has said the provincial government plans to raise the general minimum wage rate to $11 an hour by 2017. In future years, it plans to index the minimum wage rate.
Government mulls HST hike
The New Brunswick government says it is considering increasing the rate of its armonized Sales Tax (HST) from 13 per cent to 15 per cent to raise more provincial revenue.
The HST is the government’s second-largest form of own-source revenue, bringing in nearly $1.2 billion per year. The HST rate consists of a five per cent federal component and an eight per cent provincial component. The government says hiking the provincial component of the tax by two points could raise up to $300 million per year.
Increasing the HST rate is one of six recommendations put forward as part of the government’s Strategic Program Review, which is looking at ways to find $500 million to $600 million in revenue and savings. Other suggestions include reducing education and health-care spending and raising corporate income tax rates.
“Most economists agree that consumption taxes like the HST are the fairest taxes to raise, especially if complemented by programs to assist lower-income households,” said Health Minister Victor Boudreau, who is also minister responsible for the Strategic Program Review.
“Moreover, after the provincial government implemented the largest personal income tax increase in our province’s history a few years ago, there is frankly not enough room left to increase personal income taxes,” he added.
The government will announce which revenue measures it will implement when it tables its budget on Feb. 2.
Ontario
New rules for tips in force in June
New employment standards rules that will regulate when employers may and may not withhold tips or gratuities from employees or deduct amounts from the payments will come into effect on Jun. 10.
Legislation to implement the changes received royal assent on Dec. 10, 17 months after it was tabled in the provincial legislature.
Once in force, the bill will prohibit employers from withholding tips or gratuities from employees, deducting amounts from the tips or gratuities or causing employees to return their tips or gratuities to the employer unless allowed by a law or a court order or because the employer collects and redistributes them among some or all of the employees.
It will also prohibit employers, directors and shareholders from sharing in redistributed tips or gratuities unless they regularly do the same work as employees who share in the tips or as employees of other employers in the same industry who commonly receive or share tips or gratuities.
