HUMAN Capital - Fall 2015 - (Page 36)

PoLiCYCorner employment leave Policies in the alberta Workplace bY mICHelle SToCK, b.SoSC., m.P.P Provincial or territorial labour laws apply to about 90 per cent of the Canadian workforce. The remaining 10 per cent are federally regulated. alberta's employment standards set the minimum standards of employment for employers and employees in the workplace. In alberta, the employment Standards Code and regulation dictates the laws and standards of employment. Currently, the types of mandatory leave policies are for compassionate care leave, maternity and parental leave, and reservists leave. a review of the preliminary results of the latest Hr Trends Survey indicates that in addition to the minimum employment standards that are in place in alberta, many organizations have additional formal policies on employment leave policies in alberta. Furthermore, a large number of respondents had employment leave policies that went beyond the typical minimum standards, and have adopted policies for educational leave, bereavement, short-term and long-term disability, and sabbaticals - just to name a few. It is interesting to see organizations adopting employment leave policies beyond what is expected of them to provide. There is a growing debate over whether alberta's employment Standards should require employers to have a formal bereavement policy in place. There currently is no legal standard in place for albertans. However, based on the early results of our Hr Trends, nearly 70 per cent of our respondents claimed to have a formal policy in place already. The election of an NDP government in alberta will likely lead to a greater interest in amending employment standards. Past NDP provincial governments in british Columbia, ontario and Saskatchewan have reputations for this type of legislative and policy activism. Something that could be an additional change on the government agenda is if any additional changes will be made to employment leave policies such as a bereavement leave policy similar to other provinces such as ontario and Quebec. There is no question that having a bereavement policy in place at a company organization is a valuable addition to employment policies, but there is some debate over whether these policy decisions should be left to the employer to establish what the minimum leave is, or whether the government should adopt a standard that is used across the province? 36 | www.hria.ca http://www.hria.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of HUMAN Capital - Fall 2015

Leadership Matters
Tech Talk
Building for Success at Alberta Health Services
Fostering Collaboration and Consultation in Developing AHS’s People Strategy
AHS HR Service Delivery Model
Transforming HR in AHS
Implementing Organizational Change Adoption
Leadership Development and the LEA DS in a Caring Environment Capabilities Framework
Blurred Lines: Human Resources and Health-Care Information
Curbing Absenteeism
HR’s Role in Creating and Maintaining a Psychologically Safe Work Environment
HR’s Response in an Emergency Natural Disaster
Legal Source
Policy Corner
Index of Advertisers/ Advertisers.com

HUMAN Capital - Fall 2015