“Fair and family-friendly workplaces” apparently means join a union
The Government of Alberta has introduced Bill 17, the “Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act.”
Honestly, it’s a great name for a piece of legislation. Based solely on the name of the bill, you would have to be a monster to object to it. But, this piece of legislation addresses two distinctly different acts, the Employment Standards Code (ESC) and the Labour Relations Code (LRC). Most of the proposed changes to the ESC easy to support from the standpoint of most employers, but I can’t say the same for the LRC changes.
The ESC changes will provide a number of important and reasonable guarantees to Alberta workers. For example, those affected with a long-term illness can receive up to 16 weeks in unpaid leave. Parents dealing with the death or disappearance of a child will get up to a 52 week leave. There are also a number of guarantees around leave for bereavement, domestic violence, or citizenship ceremonies. I can’t name a single employer that was terminating employees dealing with terrible things like illness, bereavement, the disappearance of a child, but that is beside the point.
There are also a number of measures around banked overtime, breaks, and even an aspect that will make it illegal for employers to charge employees when the business is subject to a gas-and-dash or dine-and-dash.