The Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act was passed in June 2017 and includes changes in a number of areas of employee benefits and entitlements which take effect January 1, 2018. Some of these changes will add to employer costs to deliver services and others have the potential to add to costs, depending on the extent to which the benefits are accessed.
Service Providers are encouraged to read through the Employment Standards Code changes outlined here and evaluate the impact of the changes to your budgets and service. ACDS has included potential impacts in our conversations with PDD over the past few months but it is critical that we collect and document anticipated impacts. We will be reaching out to service providers to collect information.
Some of the Employment Standard Code changes that will come into effect January 1, 2018 that could affect Service Providers are:
Leave eligibility
Compassionate care leave
Maternity/parental leave
Rest periods
Compressed work weeks
Deductions
Minimum wage
Overtime
General holiday and general holiday pay
Vacations and vacation pay
Termination and temporary layoffs
The government has indicated that additional information including fact sheets, webinars and tool kits will be available in the coming weeks and information sessions are available for employer groups, non-profits organizations and worker representatives. To book a session with Employment Standards please email
[email protected]
Bill 22: The Resident and Family Councils Act was introduced last week in the legislature and it is intended to guarantee residents and families the right to establish self-governing councils at any long-term care and licensed supportive living facilities with four or more residents licensed under the Supportive Living Accommodation Licensing Act (SLALA) .Bill 22 was introduced as Alberta Health policy to legislate long-term care facilities to establish Resident and Family Councils in order to hear and respond to feedback however; approximately 240 residences providing services under PDD will potentially be impacted by the legislation due to their current licensing.
The Ministry of Health along with the Community and Social Services Disability, Inclusion and Accessibility Division have committed to a consultation process with services providers, individuals and families prior to implementation in spring 2018. Information regarding this consultation process will be available shortly. This consultation will provide an opportunity to information Regulations that will inform the impact of the legislation for Disability Services.
ACDS is encouraging those Service Providers who operate residences licensed under SLALA to
review the Legislation to determine whether this requirement is already covered by other required processes (e.g. Accreditation Standards, Self Advocate Groups, etc.) if you anticipate challenges for organization or individuals as a result.
