Alberta Employment Standards Code changes effective January 1, 2018

[taco.vidal]

Lot of changes coming into place, most of which will impact people in only very specific circumstances.
All changes here: https://www.alberta.ca/employment-st...s-changes.aspx

Im guessing one change that will affect a lot of people is the change to holiday pay, especially the two items in the first bullet below.
https://www.alberta.ca/general-holidays-pay.aspx

General holiday and general holiday pay

• The requirement to have worked for 30 days in the 12 months before the holiday will be removed. The distinction between regular and non-regular days of work will be eliminated.
• General Holiday pay will be calculated as 5% of wages, general holiday pay, and vacation pay earned in the 4 weeks immediately preceding the holiday.

This will be an added cost for business as well as an added complexity. However, I hope employees become aware of the changes and make sure their employers are following the rules as it could be extra dollars on their paychecks.

[Ironhorse]

Curious as to how "banking" of overtime is going to work now.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Curious as to how "banking" of overtime is going to work now.

Overtime agreements will allow time to be banked for 6 months rather than 3.
Overtime banking will be calculated at 1.5x for all overtime hours worked, rather than hour-for-hour.

https://www.alberta.ca/overtime-hours-overtime-pay.aspx

[Ironhorse]

A buddy of mine has a ton of banked hours that he can't really take off due to workload. I wonder if the new legislation will force the payment of hours after 6 months.

[iggy_oi]

Nm

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

A buddy of mine has a ton of banked hours that he can't really take off due to workload. I wonder if the new legislation will force the payment of hours after 6 months.

From the link I posted:

Employees must use up their banked overtime within 6 months, starting at the end of the pay period when the overtime was earned.
The exception is when a collective agreement specifies otherwise.

No changes in compensation for overtime that was banked prior to January 1.

Any overtime banked under an overtime agreement prior to January 1, 2018 can be compensated at straight time. Banking overtime for hours worked as of January 1, 2018 onwards must be done at a rate of at least 1.5 hours banked for each hour worked.

[spetch]

Also curious to see how Nov 11 will work. We don’t open Sunday’s but looking at the wording on the page I will have to pay everyone for that day. Sent a message to them to see if that’s the case

[Kjesse]

The answer is yes, you do have to pay them even though they would not normally be working that day.

Its one of the odd consequences of this bill. There are some other odd consequences arising I expect will be adjusted in 2019.

In many ways this bill is the NDP NDPing, although there are also some overdue adjustments in how employees are compensated in this bill.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

https://www.alberta.ca/overtime-hours-overtime-pay.aspx

I'm curious, under non-eligible employees it lists Information Systems Professionals. Does that cover everyone that works in the IT industry in Alberta? If so what is the reasoning that IT workers shouldn't get paid for any overtime?

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Kjesse

The answer is yes, you do have to pay them even though they would not normally be working that day.

Its one of the odd consequences of this bill. There are some other odd consequences arising I expect will be adjusted in 2019.

In many ways this bill is the NDP NDPing, although there are also some overdue adjustments in how employees are compensated in this bill.

I suspect most employers will just start giving people a paid holiday on the Monday when Remembrance Day falls on a weekend. Some already do anyhow.

The overtime changes are going to be the big one in my industry, but there was enough heads up to get plans in place. Still have a few clients that are going to fight any increases in our rates to offset the higher costs though.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by spetch

Also curious to see how Nov 11 will work. We don’t open Sunday’s but looking at the wording on the page I will have to pay everyone for that day. Sent a message to them to see if that’s the case

Reading the language that appears to be the case. My guess is this is done to address holidays that do not land on a fixed day of the week so employees all receive the same benefit regardless of scheduling. This rule would also put more onus on employees to not be absent for last shifts before and/or their first shift after the stat holiday, since before the change any employee who was not enititled to the stat pay would not face any financial penalty for being absent on those days(beyond the potential lost hourly pay)

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I'm curious, under non-eligible employees it lists Information Systems Professionals. Does that cover everyone that works in the IT industry in Alberta? If so what is the reasoning that IT workers shouldn't get paid for any overtime?

Was this a change though? I’m not sure what the reasoning is behind this and my experience with IT industry standards is minimal but I believe they were already on the exemption list prior to these changes. I could be mistaken though.

[Swarly]

So reading through all this I stumbled to payday timeframe rules and it seems that an employer must pay within 10 days of the end of the payday period. This rule is unchanged. Yet, every job I remember, and my current job (6+ years) has paid me 2 weeks behind. That is, I will get paid Jan 31 for my time worked Jan 1-15th (I am an hourly not salary employee if that matters). I understood this to be very standard, is anyone else here paid like this? Is this illegal or am I reading the laws wrong, or missing some third option they are taking advantage of.

My google-fu skills tell me I am being paid in arrears but I cannot find anything related to Alberta payment law other than this 10-day rule.

[llwhiteoutll]

A reduction to overall hours would take care of the extra costs incurred by having to pay people for days they never worked and the business wasn't even open for.

An employee now gets stat pay for a bunch of time they never would have worked, but scheduled regular hours drop accordingly to offset those days. With proper scheduling, hours of operation probably wouldn't need to be modified either.

[spetch]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

A reduction to overall hours would take care of the extra costs incurred by having to pay people for days they never worked and the business wasn't even open for.

An employee now gets stat pay for a bunch of time they never would have worked, but scheduled regular hours drop accordingly to offset those days. With proper scheduling, hours of operation probably wouldn't need to be modified either.

Ya that’s kinda what I was thinking too. I have no issue paying the stat on regular days (mon-sat) but on days we don’t even operate is a little silly. My Guess everyone will enjoy their 4 day work week instead anyways.

[para transit fellow]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

A reduction to overall hours would take care of the extra costs incurred by having to pay people for days they never worked and the business wasn't even open for.

An employee now gets stat pay for a bunch of time they never would have worked, but scheduled regular hours drop accordingly to offset those days. With proper scheduling, hours of operation probably wouldn't need to be modified either.

For most businesses there isn't much of a change

there are 10 -12 stat days . and you are left with about 250 working days for the year -- about 4.0- 4.5% of total week days. Most places have always budgeted for at least 4% to the hourly wage for stat holidays.

five or six of the stats will always fall on a Monday. Another always falls on a friday. The remaining can fall on any day of the week (boxing day and easter Monday are the two days that employers can opt to ignore).


Some employers have already been paying all stat days whether or not the employee was scheduled to work the day of the holiday -- they face no change. Some employers have managed to miss paying for a few days that might fall on weekends . they will have to add a few days.

[Kjesse]

nm

[CampbellsTransgressions]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

From the link I posted:


No changes in compensation for overtime that was banked prior to January 1.

The 1.5:1 trade is a little concerning to me. I would rather keep banked time than see my employer get rid of it.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by para transit fellow

For most businesses there isn't much of a change

there are 10 -12 stat days . and you are left with about 250 working days for the year -- about 4.0- 4.5% of total week days. Most places have always budgeted for at least 4% to the hourly wage for stat holidays.

five or six of the stats will always fall on a Monday. Another always falls on a friday. The remaining can fall on any day of the week (boxing day and easter Monday are the two days that employers can opt to ignore).


Some employers have already been paying all stat days whether or not the employee was scheduled to work the day of the holiday -- they face no change. Some employers have managed to miss paying for a few days that might fall on weekends . they will have to add a few days.

You have to agree that forcing a company to pay all their employees a full days wages when the business isn’t even open is pretty ridiculous. You can’t even argue that the current system of stat pay is unfair, this is just the NDP meddling where there is no problem

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

You have to agree that forcing a company to pay all their employees a full days wages when the business isn’t even open is pretty ridiculous. You can’t even argue that the current system of stat pay is unfair, this is just the NDP meddling where there is no problem

They’re not being forced to pay a full day’s wages to all their employees.

https://www.alberta.ca/assets/documents/es-faq.pdf

Q. What is the “average daily wage” and what has changed with its calculation?
A. Effective Jan. 1, 2018 average daily wage will be calculated as 5% of an employee’s wages, vacation pay and general holiday pay earned in the 4 weeks immediately preceding a general holiday

A lot of employers already pay stats to all employees regardless of which day it lands on.

[para transit fellow]

Reality check:

So does anyone on Calgary puck work for an employer who won't pay the stat holiday if It falls on their scheduled non work day?