The Nova Scotia government introduced Bill 29 on September 14,
2018 to increase pregnancy and parental leave to reflect the recent
changes by the federal government to Employment Insurance
("EI"). Those EI changes extended employment insurance
for maternity and parental leave from a combined 50 weeks to 76
weeks and came into effect on December 3, 2017. The majority of
provinces have amended their employment standards to match the
federal government's changes to employment insurance (see chart
below).
Consistent with the federal EI changes, Bill 29 reduces pregnancy
leave from 17 weeks to 16 weeks (to reflect the now reduced EI
waiting period of one week), increases parental leave from 52 weeks
to 77 weeks and also increases the maximum combined leave from 52
weeks to 77 weeks. Bill 29 received second reading in the
legislature on September 14, 2018. On September 24, 2018 the NDP
brought a motion at Law Amendments to reduce the one year
employment requirement for pregnancy and parental leave, to 17
weeks. The motion was defeated; Bill 29 was referred back to the
Legislature without any amendments.
As can be seen from the chart below, the proposed changes would
bring Nova Scotia in line with the majority of Canadian provinces
(excluding Quebec):
Province |
Maternity leave (in weeks) |
Parental leave (in weeks) |
Maximum leave (in weeks) |
Nova Scotia (existing legislation) | 17 | 52 | 52 |
Nova Scotia (proposed changes) | 16 | 77 | 77 |
Alberta | 16 | 62 | 78 |
British Columbia | 17 | 62 | 78 |
Manitoba | 17 | 63 | 78 |
New Brunswick | 17 | 62 | 78 |
Newfoundland and Labrador | 17 | 61 | 78 |
Ontario | 17 | 63 | 78 |
Prince Edward Island | 17 | 35 | 52 |
Saskatchewan | 18 | 37 | 52 |
Employers who have policies providing "top-up" for
pregnancy and parental leave should ensure that Bill 29 does not
overextend their policy beyond the desired effect.
Sick leave and domestic violence leave
Last week, the Nova Scotia NDP introduced two bills which, if
enacted, would provide paid days for both sick leave and domestic
violence leave, and also remove the right of employers to ask for a
doctor's note.
Currently, s. 60D of the Labour Standards Code
("Code") provides up to three days unpaid sick leave for
employees.
On September 20, 2018 the NDP introduced legislation to amend the
Code to provide six paid days and also remove the right of
employers to ask for a doctor's note. The proposed NDP
amendment follows in the footsteps of Ontario Bill 148 (passed by
the Liberal Government of Ontario) which came into force in January
2018. Bill 148 abolished the employer's right to ask for a
doctor's note and increased the number of personal emergency
leave (i.e. sick leave) to 10 days per year including two paid
days. We will continue to monitor the NDP's proposed
amendments.
As for domestic violence leave, on April 17, 2018 the Nova Scotia
government passed legislation amending the Code to provide for
domestic violence leave. The amendments are awaiting proclamation
and will provide 10 intermittent unpaid days and also 16 continuous
weeks of unpaid leave. On September 21, 2018 the NDP introduced a
bill to provide for the first five days of domestic violence leave
to be paid. The Department of Labour and Advanced Education are
holding consultations with stakeholders next week on whether to
include paid days in domestic violence leave.
Currently, five provinces have proposed amending their legislation
to include paid leave for domestic violence and two provinces have
legislation in force which provide paid leave (Manitoba and
Quebec). The NDP's proposal for six sick days of paid leave
would place Nova Scotia well above provincial standards:
Province | Paid days domestic violence (proposed or enacted amendments) | Paid days sick leave (enacted amendments) | Unpaid sick leave (enacted amendments) |
Nova Scotia (existing legislation) | --- | --- | 3 |
Nova Scotia (proposed changes by NDP) | 5 | 6 | --- |
Manitoba | 5 | --- | 3 |
British Columbia |
10 | --- | --- |
Alberta | --- | --- | 5 |
Saskatchewan | 5 | --- | --- |
Ontario | 10 | 2 | 7 |
New Brunswick |
5 | --- | 5 |
Prince
Edward Island |
3 | 1 | 3 |
Quebec | 2 | --- | 10 |
Newfoundland and Labrador |
--- | --- |
7
|
A change from unpaid to paid leave would impose a considerable new cost to Nova Scotia companies. We will continue to monitor the proposed amendments.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.