Companies with employees in Ontario, particularly companies that sponsor or administer employee benefits plans, will be affected by the passage of Bill 21, the Employment Standards Amendment Act (Leaves to Help Families), 2014, says a Borden Ladner Gervais Pension Alert.
Effective Oct. 29, 2014, the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) will be amended and three new job-protected leaves will be available:
- family caregiver leave: up to eight weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for employees to provide care or support to a family member with a serious medical condition;
- critically ill child care leave: up to 37 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to provide care to a critically ill child; and
- crime-related child death or disappearance leave: up to 52 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for parents of a missing child and up to 104 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for parents of a child who has died as a result of a crime.
“Similar to almost all job-protected leaves of absence protected under the ESA, during the period of the three new statutory leaves of absence, eligible employees continue to participate in their employer’s benefits plans, including pension plans,” says the alert. “During such periods, employers must continue to make their contributions to the benefits plans, unless the eligible employee gives her or his employer a written notice that she or he does not intend to pay the employee’s contributions (if any).”
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