Contents:

• Welcome
• Upcoming Events
• What's New
• GrandMaster Update

NOTE: This archive references other sites on the World Wide Web. From time to time, an article's link may be moved or deleted from the host site. If you encounter an out-of-date link, please e-mail the payrollnews@canpay.com.

Welcome!

October 2004 - Welcome to the latest edition of The Payroll News. As always, please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and associates who are interested in keeping up with the latest changes in the Payroll industry. Or better yet, subscribe them for free using the Tell Others About Us link.

Upcoming Events

Listed here are recent changes in legislation on Federal and Provincial levels that may impact your payroll calculations. Please view the following list for changes that affect your region.

FEDERAL:

September 30, 2004 - Strike not affecting essential services at the CRA - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is continuing to deliver essential services during this period of labour disruptions. The inconvenience caused by this strike is regrettable, and the Agency requests the public’s continued patience. The CRA looks forward to concluding a fair settlement for its employees in the near future. (Full Story - 380 Words)

September 8, 2004 - Canada Revenue Agency interest rates for the fourth calendar quarter - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) today announced the prescribed annual interest rates that will apply to any amounts owed to the CRA and to any amounts the CRA owes to individuals and corporations. These rates are calculated quarterly in accordance with applicable legislation and will be in effect from October 1, 2004, to December 31, 2004.
(Full Story - 232 Words)

September 7, 2004 - Advisory on service delivery during strike activity - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada are continuing their efforts to conclude a new collective agreement for approximately 22,000 of the Agency's permanent employees, as well as a number of its term employees. In the interest of the safety and security of the public, the Agency will continue to provide essential services during the period of strike activity. (Full Story - 111 Words)

September 7, 2004 - Fact Sheet on CRA Essential Services - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is committed to providing high quality services to Canadians. Some of these services may be affected if there is a strike. In the interests of the safety and security of the public, the CRA will maintain the delivery of essential services. Employees in essential positions must report to work in the event of a strike. (Full Story - 305 Words)

September 7, 2004 - CRA and PSAC unable to reach an agreement by strike deadline - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have reached an impasse in their efforts to conclude a new collective agreement for approximately 22,000 of the Agency's permanent employees, as well as a number of its term employees. CRA employees represented by PSAC are in a legal strike position as of September 8, 2004. (Full Story - 460 Words)

Alberta:

September 23, 2004 - Job bank electronically matches skills to potential employers - Finding an employer looking for someone just like you is as easy as completing an online survey. Job seekers can now complete an inventory of their personal skills and experience to register on a new Internet database to find a match to available jobs. Job Match, a new feature of the Canada-Alberta Job Order Bank Service (JOBS) is also available to employers, who can search the database for suitable candidates looking for work. (Full Story - 432 Words)

September 21, 2004 - LifeQuilt promotes young worker safety - The LifeQuilt made its first Alberta appearance at the provincial legislature. The quilt is a work of art that memorializes young Canadian workers who were killed or severely injured at work. "I am really pleased that we have the LifeQuilt in Alberta," said Alberta Human Resources and Employment Minister Clint Dunford. "There are too many young names on this quilt, including seven Albertans, and having some of their family members here today is a good reminder of the cost of poor workplace safety procedures." (Full Story - 215 Words)

September 9, 2004 - More families qualify for free health benefits - More families are now eligible for premium-free health benefits for their children through the Alberta Child Health Benefit (ACHB) because eligibility levels have been increased. ACHB eligibility is based on income and the number of children in the family. A one-child family will now qualify with income up to $24,397, a level which is $2,000 higher than last year. Exceptional circumstances, like substantial changes in the income of families with high ongoing health costs, will also be considered. (Full Story - 305 Words)

September 2004 - 2005 WCB Forecast Premium Rates - The Workers' Compensation Board - Alberta produces forecast premium rates to give employers some indication of what to anticipate in planning their business and budgets for the upcoming year. Forecasting premium rates each year also provides insight into key trends such as claims volumes, costs and durations. This gives employers more timely information to make adjustments to injury prevention efforts. (Full Story - 257 Words)

British Columbia:

September 27, 2004 - New Service BC Centre boosts public access - Four ministries have come together in Sparwood to provide a better, more convenient way to access provincial government services. The new Service BC Centre brings together the ministries of Management Services, Human Resources, Public Safety and Solicitor General and Children and Family Development, allowing users to apply for everything from employment assistance to a safe boating permit, make payments to their medical services plan, pay property and consumer tax, etc. (Full Story - 319 Words)

September 21, 2004 - Confined space accidents often result in death according to WCB - Confined spaces can too often be dangerous spaces to workers in B.C. according to the Workers' Compensation Board. Workers entering silos, vats, ship holds, sewers, tunnels, large pipelines, and other such spaces are often unaware of potential problems and can lose consciousness in as little as four minutes if there is a lack of oxygen, or there is poisonous gas or another hazard present. (Full Story - 528 Words)

Manitoba:

September 10, 2004 - New employment strategy announced at World Summit - Manitobans will benefit from the launch of a new employment strategy and additional funds for preschool children with autism. The new employment strategy is built around a partnership with community, employment programs, the business sector and government. The strategy focuses on people with disabilities receiving employment and income assistance and includes the creation of an employability support unit. Staff in the unit will identify and assist interested people to find jobs, directly or through community employment programs. (Full Story - 394 Words)

New Brunswick:

September 28, 2004 - Pilot project allows international students to work off campus - International students attending any of the province's four public universities or any of the campuses of the New Brunswick Community College will now be able to apply for a permit to work off campus. Under certain eligibility conditions, students will allow be able to work off campus for a maximum of 20 hours a week while registered as full-time students and for a maximum of 40 hours a week during different school break periods. Currently, full-time international students in Canada are allowed to work only on the campus of the institution at which they are registered, except in Manitoba and Quebec, where similar pilot projects are in place. (Full Story - 960 Words)

September 23, 2004 - Job Start Strategy surpasses targets; nearly 1,700 assisted - The provincial government's JOB Start Strategy has not only met but far surpassed its recruitment and retention targets, with the latest figures indicating that nearly 1,700 New Brunswickers have been assisted through its initiatives. The strategy, whose goal was to assist 1,000 post-secondary students, has assisted 1,458 postsecondary students through the recruitment and retention efforts, and another 230 through our Repatriation initiative. (Full Story - 522 Words)

September 25, 2004 - CUPE 1252 breaks off contract talks - Local 1252 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) broke off talks with the province this morning after sticking to their demand for significant across-the-board wage increases for their members. The union, which represents approximately 6,500 hospital workers, voted 95.8 per cent in favour of strike action earlier this month and have been in legal strike position since 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 25. However, an average of 60 per cent of the group are designated essential and will remain on the job to provide services to the people of New Brunswick. (Full Story - 553 Words)

Newfoundland and Labrador:

September 21, 2004 - Government to seek input on the minimum wage - Joan Burke, Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, announced today that the Labour Relations Agency will carry out a review of the minimum wage this Fall. "The current wage will be re-examined in terms of adequacy and impact for affected stakeholders, including a comparative analysis with other jurisdictions, particularly those in Atlantic Canada," said Minister Burke. The minimum wage was last increased in November 2002 to $6.00 per hour. (Full Story - 456 Words)

September 3, 2004 - Both Governments fund employment projects in St. John’s - Joe Volpe, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and Joan Burke, Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment for Newfoundland and Labrador, today announced funding of $2,731,061 for 11 employment projects in St. John’s. These projects are being funded through HRSDC's Employment Assistance Services, Labour Market Partnerships, Job Creation Partnerships, Targeted Wage Subsidies and the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy. (Full Story - 242 Words)

Nova Scotia :

September 2004 - Making WCB remittances during a CRA labour disruption - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is responsible to produce and distribute WCB Statements of Account each month. However, due to labour disruptions at CRA at this time, the WCB will produce and distribute the Statements directly. (Full Story - 212 Words)

Ontario:

September 15, 2004 - Ontario government launches workplace gateway resource for employers and workers - The Ontario government is launching a new website that bundles information to enhance workplace health and safety, employment standards and consumer protection, Labour Minister Chris Bentley announced today. "This is furthering the education and training of the whole community, particularly the employer community with respect to employment standards and occupational health and safety issues," said Bentley. (Full Story - 415 Words)

September 22, 2004 - Thanksgiving Day a public holiday under Employment Standards Act, 2000 - Many workers will get the day off with public holiday pay on Thanksgiving Day on Monday, October 11, 2004. Thanksgiving Day is one of eight public holidays under Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000. (Full Story - 1120 Words)

September 8, 2004 - Government providing fairness and choice for employees 65 and over - The McGuinty Government is seeking public input on ending mandatory retirement in Ontario at a forum in Hamilton on September 10. "Ontarians are healthier and living longer and it is unfair to arbitrarily require them to stop working once they reach age 65," said Parliamentary Assistant Kevin Flynn. (Full Story - 330 Words)

September 23, 2004 - Government proposes new president and board members for WSIB - The Ontario government is continuing the renewal of the WSIB by nominating a new president and additional directors for the trust agency. Premier Dalton McGuinty has proposed Jill Hutcheon as president. As well, four individuals have been nominated for the WSIB board of directors to increase its membership to seven from three. All are subject to review by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies. (Full Story - 380 Words)

September 27, 2004 - CRA/WSIB Joint Registration Initiative - Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) of Ontario have entered into an agreement to share business information. This data is being shared to ensure all Ontario employers, required to register with the WSIB and CRA, are in fact registered. When employers are in full compliance with federal and provincial laws, there is fairness to all, and everyone is working from a level playing field. (Full Story - 322 Words)

The current release of GrandMaster Suite (4.00.04) incorporates a number of changes to make it even easier to use the program and perform your payroll tasks. Recent program changes since our last Payroll News issue include:

• Program now displays prompt when terminating an employee - When you terminated an employee using the Payroll Specific Information dialog box's Payroll Status drop-down list, the program would not prompt you for a Last Date Worked (if you did not enter one). The program now displays a message prompting you to access the Dates tab and enter a valid Last Date Worked.
• Append option not available for ROE Web export - When you attempted to append to an existing ROE file using the Export ROE Web File feature, the program was disabling the Append to Existing File option. This has been corrected.
• Program processing is slow when printing employee pay statements - Resulting from a change in our previous release, when you printed employee pay statements, the program would take more time than normal to process and print the statements. This has been corrected so that pay statement processing is quicker as in previous versions.
• ROE Web Export file not including Vacation Pay data - If you had data in the 17A, Vac Pay field and exported a file using the ROE Web Export feature, the resulting export file would not include the data for that field. This has been changed so that all relevant fields are included in the export file.
  

Visit CanPay's News page and view the latest Release Notes for a complete listing of program changes.

Vacation Pay Not a Holiday For Payroll (Part 2 of 2)
By Alan McEwen

Most jurisdictions now define statutory holiday pay in terms of a daily average wage over a given number of workweeks. In Alberta, this is an employee’s earnings for a normal day’s work (without overtime) averaged over the days worked in the nine weeks before the statutory holiday. A workweek is a seven-day period defined by the employer and would normally be based on the pay period. For example, an employer whose pay period ends on a Friday would count backwards the requisite number of weeks, starting with the last Friday before the holiday.

In Ontario this daily average is based on regular wages plus vacation pay over the four workweeks prior to the holiday. An Ontario employer with a weekly pay period ending on a Friday would sum the earnings related to regular hours worked — using this year’s Labour Day example — from Saturday, Aug. 2 to Friday, Aug. 29. Added to this would be any vacation pay paid or payable during these same dates. The statutory holiday pay due for Labour Day in these circumstances would be these total earnings divided by 20.

This daily average calculation is targeted at employees without a set workweek, such as part-time employees whose hours vary. The Alberta and Ontario examples treat such part-time employees differently. Under the Alberta employment standards, earnings over the nine workweeks are divided by the number of actual employee work days in that period. In Ontario, the four-week earnings are divided by a fixed constant of 20.

The next twist comes in the form of employees who actually work on the statutory holiday. Normally an employee who is entitled to statutory holiday pay, and who works on that day as well, is entitled to be paid time-and-a-half for the actual hours worked. This is in addition to the statutory holiday pay itself.

This adds two more complexities to payroll. Work on a statutory holiday, in most provinces, affects the calculation of overtime. Ontario, like most areas, does not change the threshold for overtime for a week in which there is a statutory holiday. If an employee works eight hours a day, for six days, this is 48 hours.

Since the threshold for overtime in Ontario is 44, pay would normally be 44 hours at straight time and four hours at time-and-a-half. If one of these days were to be paid as a statutory holiday, then pay would be 40 regular hours and eight hours at straight time for the statutory holiday with no hours at time-and-a-half.

Quebec is the one exception to this rule. The hours paid for a statutory holiday count towards the threshold for weekly overtime, which in Quebec is 40 hours per week. Assuming the same six eight-hour days as above, pay in Quebec would be 32 regular hours, eight hours statutory holiday pay and eight hours overtime at time-and-a-half.

The other complexity of work on a statutory holiday is that it affects the reporting of insurable hours on a record of employment. Normally each hour worked by or paid to an employee is insurable. But there is an exception where an employee is both paid statutory holiday pay and works on that day.

If an employee normally works eight hours a day, the insurable hours for any statutory holiday pay would be eight. But if the employee also works five hours on a statutory holiday, the insurable hours are eight, not 13. Similarly, if the employee’s average daily wage used to calculate statutory holiday pay equates to six-and-a-half hours, but the employee actually works nine hours on that day, the insurable hours are nine, not 15.5.

The rule then is that the insurable hours for a statutory holiday are the greater of the hours actually worked and the hourly equivalent of any statutory holiday pay.

All of this makes it a little easier to understand why the payroll professional’s dreams of long weekends and backyard barbecues are a little bit clouded when a statutory holiday is approaching.

© Copyright Canadian HR Reporter, (Sep. 8, 2003), by permission of Carswell
Toronto, Ontario, 1-800-387-5164. Web: www.hrreporter.com.