At the beginning of April, the OPSEU Pension Trust made a change to a definition in its plan text that will have meaningful implications for plan members with disabled children who need to continue to rely on their parents into adulthood. The organization expanded the definition of a child eligible for survivor benefits to include […]
Community Savings Credit Union is reducing stigma around mental health in the workplace and the community through increased wellness support and advocacy work. The British Columbia-based credit union recently increased coverage for mental-health counselling to $2,000 per employee per year and renamed sick days to ‘health days’ to help employees feel more supported. “We wanted […]
Federally regulated workplaces are expected to begin offering free menstrual products to workers by the end of 2023. On Wednesday, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan announced changes to the Canada Labour Code that would ensure access to such products beginning Dec. 15. The changes would require federally regulated workplaces to provide menstrual products to workers at […]
A 2023 federal budget proposal to require employers to report dental coverage as part of the national dental-care program will be onerous on plan sponsors and still leaves more questions than answers, says Pam Martin, vice-president and senior consultant at Baynes & White Inc. Since dental benefits are important to an individual’s mental health, the federal government […]
Most gig workers in Seattle will be permanently entitled to paid sick leave under a new law that expands coronavirus pandemic-era protections and strengthens labour rights for app-based workers. Under the law, workers will accrue one day of paid sick or safe leave — to be used when caring for themselves or a family member […]
In its 2023 budget on Tuesday, the federal government proposed roughly $13 billion over the next five years and $4.4 billion ongoing to fully implement the national dental-care program. The plan — to be administered by Health Canada, with support from a third-party benefits administrator — will provide dental coverage for uninsured Canadians with annual […]
President Joe Biden’s order that federal employees in the U.S. get vaccinated against the coronavirus has been blocked by a federal appeals court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has rejected arguments that Biden, as the nation’s chief executive, has the same authority as the chief executive officer of a private corporation to require […]
In Ontario’s 2023 budget, which was announced on Thursday, the provincial government confirmed its temporary paid sick day program will expire on March 31, 2023. The measure, which was introduced during the coronavirus pandemic and provided three paid sick days to workers, was designed to support people who needed to take time off work to […]
British Columbia is introducing pay transparency legislation to help close the province’s gender pay gap. Once the legislation is passed on Nov. 1, 2023, all B.C. employers will be required to include wage or salary ranges on all publicly advertised jobs. Employers will also be required to publicly post reports on their gender pay gap, […]
More than half (51 per cent) of U.S. workers say there’s a gender pay gap in their workplaces, up 121 per cent since 2019, according to a new survey by software company Beqom. The survey, which polled 1,000 U.S. employees and 1,000 U.K. employees, found roughly a third of U.S. (35 per cent) and U.K. (31 […]