301+ employees: 16 weeks Layoffs are limited to 60 days within a 120-day period. Tens of thousands of businesses around Alberta had to close their doors in March and April as Canada entered a lockdown period. Division 8 also outlines circumstances in which an employer or an employee may not be required to provide termination notice under the Code. During the COVID-19 lockdown, businesses across Alberta were placed in difficult positions but the hope was that the period of inactivity would be strictly temporary. Recently, the Government of Alberta introduced Bill 24, the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Statutes Amendment Act , 2020 , which proposed amendments to various statutes, including the Code . If the thresholds are met in the last column above, the employee’s employment is considered to be ended, and the employer must pay termination pay if the employee is entitled. At the time an employee is laid off, an employer is not required to provide a specific recall date, however, if they do, they must generally comply with it. Employment Standards The majority of the following proposed changes will take effect November 1, 2020, apart from changes to group termination notice, temporary layoff periods, and variance application rules, which will take effect They are designed to help maintain the employer-employee relationship even in times when there is no work for the employee. An employer can: If the employee doesn’t return to work within 7 days of being served the recall notice: If there is a collective agreement in place, and it contains recall rights following layoff, the employment ends and termination pay is owed when recall rights expire. If you did not receive much notice before being temporarily laid off, your employer was probably acting within their rights. In June, another temporary amendment was made: This effectively extended the period for temporary layoffs to 180 consecutive days for most employees who were laid off “for reasons related to COVID-19”. Many employers in Alberta are either not aware of these rights or willfully ignore them. Employers should be aware of the rules regarding group terminations when laying off large numbers of employees. A temporary layoff is like “pausing” the employment relationship. In April, Alberta announced an extension of the temporary layoff period in the Employment Standards Code from 60 days to 120 days for any layoff that occurred on or after March 17, 2020. So, most employees temporarily laid off need to wait for a recall notice. However, there are guidelines in the code for employers and employees to follow to make the temporary layoff relationship work. The employer must give the employee notice of temporary layoff. Several changes were introduced in 2020 to help with temporary layoffs related to COVID-19. The Government of Alberta has introduced Bill 24, the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Statutes Amendment Act, 2020 (" Bill-24") to validate the Employment Standards (COVID-19 Leave) Regulation (" COVID-19 Leave Regulation") and extend the temporary layoff period under the Employment Standards Code ("ESC") to 180 days for employees who are laid off due to COVID-19. Employees who are laid off will be placed on a leave without pay, and all benefits will be the same as fo… An employee who feels they have been improperly terminated can file an employment standards complaint. The employer is in a business in which temporary layoffs are a common industry-wide practice. The employer, therefore, would not be obligated to provide termination pay until that day. In Alberta, the maximum duration of a temporary layoff depends on the reason for layoff, and when the layoff occurred. Many thousands have never re-opened. This means that if an employer temporarily lays off an employee, the employee’s employment will not terminate until the 121 st day of layoff. Under these new regulations, effective from June, any employee who was laid off due to the lockdown was considered as temporarily laid off until the 181st consecutive day without working. The employment standards legislation of British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario each have varying conceptions of temporary layoff which will impact how this practice is treated by employers and employees alike in each province. Disclaimer: In the event of any discrepancy between this information and Alberta Employment Standards legislation, the legislation is considered correct. In Alberta, for example, the provincial legislature extended the temporary layoff period on April 6, 2020, such that a temporary layoff did not become a permanent termination until "more than 120 consecutive days" had passed An employee has the right to collect severance pay if they have completed at least 12 consecutive months of continuous employment before their layoff or dismissal resulted in a termination of employment. Mandatory measures in effect provincewide. On Monday afternoon, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the government is changing the employment standards code to help businesses respond to COVID-19. Bill 24 passed third reading on June 25, 2020, and received Royal Assent on June 26, 2020. In Alberta, the Alberta Employment Standards Code permits temporary layoff where employers provide employees with a written layoff notice. However, there is also a provision in the code for unforeseeable circumstances, whereby the employer should provide notice “as soon as practicable”. An employee cannot be laid off for more than 13 weeks in any given 20-week period (about three months in a period of five months). Amendments to the Code further extends the temporary layoff period to 180 consecutive days for employees who are, or who have been, laid off “for reasons related to COVID-19”. A layoff becomes a termination of employment if the employer: Has no intention of bringing the employee back to work; or The layoff exceeds the maximum time length under the province’s employment standards legislation. Important changes were made to employment law in Alberta in June of this year to help businesses cope with the extreme measures taken against the COVID-19 outbreak. A layoff may be extended if wages and benefits are paid and the employee agrees. As we reported in April, the Government of Alberta previously announced an extension of the temporary layoff period in Alberta’s Employment Standards Code (the “Code”) from 60 days to 120 days. For employees temporarily laid off prior to March 31, 2020, the time period was extended by six months or to December 30, 2020 (whichever occurs first). Alberta’s employment standards laws are enforced through audits, inspections, penalties, prosecutions and judgment collection. In Alberta, the maximum duration of a temporary layoff depends on the reason for layoff, and when the layoff occurred. As COVID-19 was largely unforeseen, this would apply as an exception. A temporary layoff is when a employee’s hours are reduced or eliminated on a short term basis with the intention that they will shortly be recalled. If you are temporarily laid off in Alberta, you have two basic options: The first option has been almost impossible during the COVID-19 outbreak as few companies have been hiring. What does this mean for you if you’ve endured an enforced temporary layoff due to the measures? The employee generally is not entitled to pay during the layoff period. Part 2, Division 8 of the Employment Standards Code provides the process required to terminate employment relationships, entitlements to termination notice and pay, temporary layoff and recall rights. If the employee is covered by a collective agreement, the maximum length of a layoff is the period of time during which they have the right to be recalled. The guidelines associated with temporary layoffs for non-unionized employees in Alberta are outlined in the Employment Standards Code. During the specific period of the temporary layoff, your employer is not obligated to pay you. EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS CODE 5 63 Termination pay after temporary layoff 63.1 Termination pay after temporary layoff for reasons related to COVID-19 64 Recall Division 9 Restriction on Employment … The Employment Standards Code stipulates that, in normal employment conditions, proper notice of temporary layoff should be provided in writing and clearly state its temporary nature. Termination pay is payable when payments in lieu cease. The Alberta government is increasing the maximum time for temporary layoffs from 60 days to 120 days to ensure temporarily laid-off employees stay attached to a job longer. I learned quite a bit through this process and am now much more knowledgable when it comes to employment law. The Employment Standards Act (British Columbia) only allows an employer to temporarily layoff an employee in the following situations: The employee’s contract expressly permits it. To request that an employee return to work after a layoff, an employer must serve a recall notice to the employee. Written notice of temporary layoff is required and must contain an effective date and an outline of applicable provisions of the ESC. If no other agreement is in place between you and your employer, your employment will be considered as terminated after the period ends. Fortunately, we didn’t suffer as badly as our cousins to the south and many businesses have since been able to start trading again – albeit in a scaled-back capacity for many in the hospitality, recreation, travel, and arts sectors. Employment standards statutes across Canada provide for “temporary layoffs.” These enable an employer to lay an employee off work for a limited period of time, typically without terminating the employment relationship. 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