On April 16, 2024, the federal government tabled its 2024 Budget, "Fairness for Every Generation" (Budget).
While much of the Budget is focused on topics such as housing, strengthening the economy and making the cost of living more affordable, it also includes a number of initiatives that will have implications for employers, pension plan administrators and human resources professionals. The most significant of these include the following:
- The government, working with pension plans, will create a working group to explore ways to enhance domestic investment opportunities for Canadian pension funds.
- Proposed amendments to the Canada Labour Code that would (1) require federally regulated employers to implement a "right to disconnect" policy limiting work-related communication outside of working hours and (2) strengthen prohibitions against employee misclassification in order to improve job protections for federally regulated gig workers.
- Proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act that would modernize this legislation and expand the designated equity groups.
We are awaiting the release of the corresponding Budget Bill and will provide a more detailed summary of the key employment, labour, pension and benefits-related initiatives in both the Budget and Budget Bill once it is released.
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