The Quebec government has made several changes to provincial labour laws. Synerion has compiled a list of changes we believe may be relevant to your business. If you have any employees or if your business is located in Quebec please take note of the following:
Effective Jan 1, 2019:
Vacation Time: The minimum paid vacation time for employees who have worked for the same company 3 years or longer now is 3 weeks.
Absences Owing to Sickness, Organ or Tissue Donations, Accidents, Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence or Criminal Offences: An employee can now be absent from work without pay for no more than 26 weeks over a period of 12 months owing to domestic violence or sexual violence, in addition to the other existing reasons for an absence.
Employee's must be paid for the first 2 days of an absence relating to Sickness, Organ or Tissue Donations, Accidents, Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence or Criminal Offences
Family or Parental Leave and Absences: The Act now allows any employee to be absent from work for 10 days per year to fulfill obligations relating to the care, health or education of the employee’s child or the child of a relative or of a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver
Employee's must be paid for the first 2 days of leave relating to Family or parental leave if they have not already been remunerated for leave relating to Sickness, Organ or Tissue Donations, Accidents, Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence or Criminal Offences
Wages: An employer will be prohibited from remunerating an employee at a lower rate of wage than that granted to its other employees who perform the same tasks in the same establishment solely because of the employee’s employment status or because the employee usually works fewer hours each week, even if the employee earns more than twice the minimum wage.
Scheduling:
Employers and employees may agree on the staggering of working hours on a basis other than weekly, without the authorization of the CNESST, provided certain conditions are met. Notwithstanding such an agreement, the workweek cannot exceed by more than 10 hours the workweek provided for and applicable under the Act or the applicable regulations.
In addition, the Act will impose a two-hour limit on the number of overtime hours an employee is required to accept in addition to his regular workday and it will allow an employee, under certain circumstances, to refuse to work overtime if he or she has not been informed of the work schedule at least five days in advance.
For more information about these changes please see
http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-parlementaires/projets-loi/projet-loi-176-41-1.html
Disclaimer:
Synerion North America Inc. (“Synerion”) is sharing this information as interpreted by Synerion and in no way warranting the accuracy of the information. Please use this material as a reference guide only and refer to official provincial government resources to determine any impact to your business.