Canadian Lawyer InHouse

47 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE SEPTEMBER 2017 "Most of the changes are intended to pro- tect lower-level workers by increasing mini- mum wage, sick days and vacation," says Stu- art Rudner, partner at Rudner MacDonald LLP. "But they look like they will have an impact on small businesses, maybe not mid- sized businesses. "If you're a small business with a signifi - cant part of your workforce earning mini- mum wage, your labour costs are going to increase dramatically over the next few years." Casual, part-time, temporary and season - al employees will have to receive pay equal to full-time employees for doing equal work. (There would be exceptions based on senior- ity and a merit system.) "A lot of businesses have evolved their practices so that they use non-traditional labour — part-time, fixed term, contractors — in an effort to cut their labour costs," says Rudner. "So a lot of these changes are designed to prevent that." A number of manufacturing employers could be potentially affected by it, says Greg McGinnis, partner at Mathews Dinsdale & Clark LLP in Toronto. "The issue of having to pay temps and regular employees the same is potentially a major issue, because temps are a significant feature in manufacturing, but it has also become common to have different terms of employment such as contract versus perma - nent and there have been different rates of pay between those different groups," says McGinnis. "It's a potentially significant and costly requirement. For many small compa- nies, this is a huge deal." Companies may also choose to take a harder look at the jobs they have because they will have to clamp down on labour costs. Long term it may be relatively less expense to automate certain jobs. Not all 173 of the experts' recommenda - tions were accepted by the government. "We were hoping to see the govern- ment convert to legislation with some clar- ity around the managerial and supervisory hours of work and overtime exemptions," says Erin Kuzz, partner at Sherrard Kuzz LLP. The exemption currently applies to managers but not to those who routinely do some of the same work as the staff they manage. But in many organizations, the culture is for the managers to work alongside the staff that report to them. The final report had proposed taking into account their salary and their general job duties. "That would have brought some clarity about how man - agers are defined, but there was no mention of it in the legislation," says Kuzz. The legislation provides for pay parity between temp agency workers and full-time employees in the same workplace from the temp's first day on the job (versus after six months proposed in the final report). "Careful of the law of unintended conse - quences," warns Kuzz. "What you'll see is employers dramatically reducing or elimi- nating their use of temporary workers but not balancing that by hiring the same num- ber of full-time workers. If an employer is We never call it a day. Workplace issues never sleep. That's why our 24 hour line is answered by a Sherrard Kuzz lawyer every hour of every day, even on holidays. Whatever the issue. Whatever the time. Our 24 hour line means our clients sleep well at night even if we sometimes don't. If you're an employer, we're the only call you need to make. www.sherrardkuzz.com | 416.603.0700 | 24 Hour 416.420.0738 250 Yonge St #3300, Toronto, ON M5B 2L7 | @sherrardkuzz C A N A D I A N L A Y E R M A G A Z I N E Y E Y R RANKED 24 Hour 416.420.0738 ntitled-5 1 2017-08-17 3:00 PM

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