After almost six months of school closures across Ontario due to the COVID-19 pandemic, school is now back in session for most students. The provincial government’s education model includes a voluntary back-to-school regime that provides parents and students with the option to engage in online learning from home or to have children physically attend at school. With recent cases of COVID-19 on the rise this fall, outlined below is a summary of what employers should be aware of regarding their obligations to accommodate employees with children that are not attending in-person school or childcare.[1]
Continue Reading Back to School: An Employer’s Obligations to its Parental Employees

The Government of Canada released its 2018 budget plan on February 27, 2018, entitled “Equality and Growth”. The budget plan proposes various initiatives aimed at improving women’s equality in the workforce and addressing the gender wage gap. The budget proposes to implement a new parental leave benefit that is likely to have an impact upon both provincially and federally regulated employers. The budget also proposes changes to the federal pay equity regime and online reporting of pay information filed under the Employment Equity Act.
Continue Reading Budget 2018: New Parental Leave Benefit & Pay Equity Regime

Last week, Employment and Social Development Canada confirmed that new Employment Insurance (“EI”) parental, maternity and caregiving benefits will come into force on December 3, 2017. The new EI benefits were proposed in Federal Budget 2017 (see our previous blog post here) to support employees who need time off work due to life events. The key changes are outlined below.
Continue Reading December 3 Brings New EI Parental, Maternity & Caregiving Benefits

On March 22, 2017, the Canadian Federal Government released Budget 2017: Building a Strong Middle Class (“Budget 2017”) which proposes more flexible parental, maternity and caregiving leaves and Employment Insurance (“EI”) benefits to support employees in balancing work and their family responsibilities.
Continue Reading Federal Budget Changes to Parental, Maternity & Caregiving Leaves