The notion of "relative" used to determine the right to absences for family or parental reasons is broadened. Similarly, an employee acting as a caregiver may benefit from these absences if he/she is attested by a professional working in the health and social services sector governed by the Professional Code.

June 12, 2018

An employee who justifies three months of uninterrupted service has the possibility of benefiting from a maximum of two days of paid leave, during the same year, to take care of a relative of a person for whom he/she acts as a caregiver.

January 1, 2019

An employee may be absent up to 16 weeks in a 12-month period to take care of a relative or a person for whom he/she acts as a caregiver, and up to 36 weeks if this relative or this person is a minor child.

June 12, 2018

An employee may be absent up to 27 weeks in a 12-month period when his/her presence is required with a parent, other than his/her minor child, or a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver, because of a serious and potentially mortal illness.

June 12, 2018

An employee who is a victim of domestic violence or sexual violence may be absent from work up to 26 weeks over a 12-month period.

June 12, 2018

An employee who justifies three months of uninterrupted service has the possibility of benefiting from a maximum of two days of paid leave, during the same year, due to sickness, accident, or domestic or sexual violence.

January 1, 2019

The employee is entitled to three weeks of paid leave after three years of service.

January 1, 2019

The employer may pay the vacation indemnity on the employee's pay when his/her seasonal or intermittent activities justify it.

June 12, 2018

Any difference in treatment made solely on the basis of a hiring date, in relation to pension plans or other employee benefits, that affects employees performing the same tasks in the same establishment is also prohibited. However, differences in conditions of employment that existed before the Act came into force on June 12, 2018 remain valid.

An employee who believes he/she is a victim of a prohibited difference in treatment in relation to a pension plan or other employee benefits may file a complaint with the CNESST within 12 months of the time when he/she learned of the distinction.

June 12, 2018

An employer may not pay an employee a lower wage rate or reduce the duration of his annual leave in relation to other employees performing the same tasks in the same establishment, solely on the basis of his employment status.

January 1, 2019

The employer of an employee receiving tips must take into consideration the wage plus the employee's tips to calculate the collective dismissal indemnity or calculate the remuneration of two days' leave due to the employee's illness, or for family or parental reasons provided for in the Act.

January 1, 2019

The Act respecting labour standards does not apply to an athlete whose membership in a sports team is conditional on his/her continued participation in an academic program.

June 12, 2018

The right to two paid days of leave for illness or family obligations does not apply to construction employees and senior managers.

June 12, 2018

An employee no longer has to justify 60 days of uninterrupted service with his/her employer to benefit from 2 remunerated days out of the 5 days of absence to which he/she is entitled on the occasion of the birth or adoption of his/her child or when an interruption of pregnancy occurs in or after the 20^th week.

January 1, 2019

The employer may pay the employee by bank transfer without this being stipulated by a written agreement or a decree.

June 12, 2018

An employee may be absent without pay up to 104 weeks, regardless of the circumstances of the death of his/her minor child.

June 12, 2018

An employee may be absent without pay up to 104 weeks upon the disappearance of his/her minor child or upon the death by suicide of his/her spouse, child of adult age, father or mother.

June 12, 2018

The employee is entitled to 5 days' leave, including two remunerated days upon the death of a close relative.

January 1, 2019

A personnel placement agency or a recruitment agency for temporary foreign workers must obtain a permit from the CNESST to operate.

The conditions and the administrative sanctions related to the issue, maintenance or renewal of the permits, and the obligations of the placement agencies, recruitment agencies for temporary foreign workers and client enterprises, will be determined by a regulation of the Government.

Upon adoption of a regulation

Personnel placement agencies and recruitment agencies for temporary foreign workers operating without holding a permit from the CNESST, as well as client enterprises resorting to the services of such agencies, are liable to fines.

Upon adoption of a regulation

The CNESST shall make available to the public a list of the personnel placement agencies and recruitment agencies for temporary foreign workers holding a permit.

Upon adoption of a regulation

The personnel placement agency and the client enterprise are solidarily responsible to employees for pecuniary obligations, such as the payment of wages or vacation and statutory holiday indemnities.

Upon adoption of a regulation

No personnel placement agency may remunerate an employee at a lower rate of wage than that granted to the employees of the client enterprise who perform the same tasks in the same establishment solely because of the employee’s employment status, and in particular because the employee is remunerated by such an agency or usually works fewer hours each week.

Upon adoption of a regulation

The Act specifies that gestures of a sexual nature may be considered as part of the vexatious behaviour included in the definition of psychological harassment.

June 12, 2018

The employee has a period of 2 years after the last manifestation of psychological harassment to file a complaint with the CNESST.

June 12, 2018

The employer has the obligation to adopt a psychological harassment prevention and complaint processing policy and make it available within its organization. This prevention policy must include, in particular, a component concerning harassing behaviour in the form of verbal comments, actions or gestures of a sexual nature.

January 1, 2019

An employer who hires a temporary foreign worker must inform the CNESST of the worker’s date of arrival and the term of his/her contract. If the worker's departure date does not coincide with the end of the contract, the employer must notify the CNESST of the worker's departure date and the reasons for his/her departure.

The employer does not have the right to retain documents or property that belong to the temporary foreign worker (for example, his/her passport) or to charge a temporary foreign worker fees related to his/her recruitment, other than fees authorized under a Canadian government program.

Upon adoption of a regulation

The CNESST may exercise a recourse, even without a complaint, on behalf of a temporary foreign worker.

Upon adoption of a regulation

The employee has the right to refuse to work more than two hours beyond his/her usual daily working hours.

When the employee has not been informed 5 days in advance that he/she would have to work, the employee has the right to refuse to work. However, this measure does not apply if the nature of the employee's duties requires that he/she remain available, or in the case of an agricultural worker.

January 1, 2019

To the extent that the average number of hours worked is equivalent to the standard provided for in the Act, the employer and the employee may agree on staggering the working hours on a basis other than a weekly basis without the need for authorization from the CNESST. However, the agreement must comply with the following conditions:

• The agreement is evidenced in writing;
• The hours are staggered over a maximum period of 4 weeks;
• A work week may not exceed the standard provided for in the law or the regulations by more than 10 hours;
• The employee or the employer may cancel the agreement on at least two weeks' notice before the schedule end of the agreed staggering.

June 12, 2018

The employer has the possibility of choosing between paying the statutory holiday indemnity or granting compensatory leave to the employee for whom a statutory holiday does not coincide with a day normally worked.

June 12, 2018