Employment Intelligence

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• Do people tend to dismiss any great achievements from you or from your department with the following three words: "It's only HR"?
• Indeed, do people tend to refer to you within earshot as "HR"?
  

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How are employment matters regulated in Canada given its significant size? In the event of a transfer of a business, do the employment relationships of the employees transfer to the new owner? How easy is it to terminate an employee's employment contract in Canada? HR professionals working for global organisations with interests in Canada can find the answers to these questions and more in the new guide to employment law in Canada that has been added to XpertHR International.

We have set out below ten interesting features of Canadian employment law:

1. In Canada, employment matters are regulated by 14 sets of legislation. There is one set applicable to federally regulated businesses and one set for each of Canada's 13 provinces and territories. The nature of the business in question determines whether an employer and its employees are subject to federal or provincial/territorial regulation (see Note).
2. Relatively few employers fall under federal jurisdiction, and federally regulated employers are those that operate in industries that concern matters of national interest, such as banking, telecommunications and air transport (see Note).
3. Earned income is subject to both federal and provincial/territorial taxes (see Income tax and social security).
4. The federal jurisdiction and each of the 13 provinces and territories have their own employment standards legislation, which sets out employees' minimum rights in areas such as hours of work, overtime, annual leave, public holidays, and maternity, parental and other leave. This legislation applies to most employees, though with some exceptions (see Employee rights - general).
5. All jurisdictions provide for a basic statutory annual leave entitlement of two weeks, except for Saskatchewan where the basic entitlement is three weeks. In most cases, one year's service with the current employer is required before annual leave entitlement applies. In addition to the basic entitlement, most jurisdictions provide for additional entitlement based on length of service with the employer (see Paid annual leave).
6. In Manitoba and Quebec, in certain specified circumstances, employees are entitled to an unpaid leave of absence for up to 52 weeks if their child has disappeared (see Other leave).
7. In the event of the transfer of a business or part of a business, in the form of a sale of assets, the employment relationships of the employees employed by the former owner in the operations being sold do not transfer automatically to the new owner (see Transfers of undertakings).
8. In practice, contracts of employment are in most cases oral, and the terms and conditions are generally a combination of terms that have been negotiated explicitly by the parties (such as the pay and annual leave) and those that are implied by common law (such as reasonable notice of termination) and statutory law (such as provisions on discrimination and public holidays) (see Contracts of employment - general).
9. Various prohibited grounds of discrimination are protected with respect to employment, depending on the jurisdiction, including social disadvantage in Manitoba and an irrational fear of contracting an illness or disease in Nova Scotia (see Equal opportunities - general).
10. Employers may generally terminate a contract "without cause" at any time, by giving notice to the employee (see Termination of employment - general and Dismissal without cause).

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Do you have an employee on long-term sickness absence in your organisation? Have you ever struggled to implement an employee's return to work when the medical advice is that he or she is fit to return?

Getting the sickness-absence basics right could save you time and money. In Personnel Today's free webinar on 5 June, XpertHR contributing author Laurie Anstis sets out his five-step approach to managing long-term sickness absence.

Sign up now to find out how you can manage long-term sickness absence in your organisation, and for the chance to ask Laurie your questions in a live Q&A session.

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Feedback. We know it’s important to employee engagement. We know it can help to address poor performance before it becomes a capability issue. Yet many line managers are not doing it often enough or well enough.

Why? Lack of time is one reason given by managers. Many are also reluctant to do it because they worry about getting it wrong and don’t want to upset the employee. But giving feedback does not need to be a big deal; it can be a simple and effective task. The XpertHR line manager briefing on giving feedback shows how line managers can make giving feedback part of their day-to-day role.

Continue reading "Lessons for line managers on giving feedback to employees" »

Living in the UK, you're more likely to overhear someone complaining that an employee who suffered discrimination in the workplace received an excessive or ridiculous pay out than someone bemoaning the absence of discrimination laws in the workplace. And it's difficult to imagine a place that fails to protect employees against less favourable treatment because of the colour of their skin, their sex or because they have a disability. However, you don't actually have to travel that far to get to a place where there is next to no protection against discrimination in the workplace. In fact, if you hop on a plane you can be there in a little over an hour.

Continue reading "The land where discrimination is still lawful" »

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