Changes to Employment Standards Act

Changes to Bereavement Leave

Effective November 2021

Effective November 17, 2021, employees who experience a prenatal pregnancy loss or stillbirth are entitled to bereavement leave in the same manner as those who have lost an immediate family member, which includes one day paid bereavement leave and up to two days unpaid bereavement leave. An employee who is the spouse, partner, or an intended parent of a child born as a result of a surrogacy agreement, would also be entitled to this leave where there is a prenatal pregnancy loss or stillbirth.

New Pay Transparency Provisions

Effective June 1, 2022

New Pay Transparency provisions have been introduced into the Employment Standards Act and will take effect on June 1, 2022.

In brief, the new rules for Pay Transparency are:

• No employer shall seek pay history information from a job applicant
• Employers who publish publicly advertised job postings must include information about the expected pay for the positions or the range of expected pay for the positions
• No employer or person acting on behalf of an employer shall intimidate, dismiss or otherwise penalize an employee or threaten to do so because the employee has:
  • made inquiries to the employer about the employee’s pay, or made inquiries or requested information relating to the employer’s pay policies,
  • disclosed the employee’s pay to another employee,
  • given information about the employer’s compliance or non-compliance with the requirements of the Pay Transparency provisions to the Inspector or other Department staff, or
  • asked the employer to comply with the Pay Transparency provisions.

New Paid Holiday

Effective for 2022

A new paid holiday, recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, has been introduced into the Employment Standards Act. This change was passed during the Fall 2021 sitting of the Legislative Assembly.