A new legislation regarding employment leave became effective in New Brunswick on September 1st, 2018 (Bungay and Brown-Gellert, 2018). This legislation provides protection for employees and their children suffering from domestic, sexual, or intimate partner violence (Bungay and Brown-Gellert, 2018). This new legislation, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence or Sexual Violence Leave Regulation, is an amendment to the Employment Standards Act (Bungay and Brown-Gellert, 2018). This new regulation allows employees to take time off in order to seek psychological and physical medical care, to seek legal assistance, and to relocate should such cases of violence occur to themselves or to their children (Bungay and Brown-Gellert, 2018). Only one Violence Leave, regardless of type, is permitted on an annual basis, and the duration of the leave varies between 10 days to 16 continuous weeks depending on the type of violence leave required (Bungay and Brown-Gellert, 2018). The employee will receive full pay for the first five days of a Violence leave (Bungay and Brown-Gellert, 2018). The employee would need to have worked for 90 days for the employer in order to be eligible for the leave (Bungay and Brown-Gellert, 2018).
This new legislation would have benefits and limitations for employees and employers. The new regulation will encourage employees to seek medical and legal assistance in cases of domestic, sexual or intimate partner violence. Such assistances would help to reduce stress for the employee, which in turn could increase or maintain the employee’s productivity at the workplace. This new legislation will also encourage employees, and their children, to speak out against their abusers as financial consequences are reduced. Furthermore, child victims of such violence would have the much-needed support of their parents in such difficult situations. However, such violence cases could be long and hard to deal with, and thus a five-day pay may not be enough financial support for the employee to fully resolve the situation. Furthermore, competition within the workplace may discourage employees from taking such a leave. In addition, it may be difficult for the employer to ask the employee to provide evidence for such a violence as it is a sensitive issue. Employers may also need to provide training for human resource employees to handle such confidential information. Overall, I believe this new legislation would help those in such violence cases, but regulatory measures, for example, the method of providing proof of violence, should be elaborated.
Reference:
Bungay, J. and Brown-Gellert M. (2018, September 27). New employment leave introduced in New Brunswick. Canadian Employment Law Today. Retrieved from https://www.employmentlawtoday.com/article/38144-new-employment-leave-introduced-in-new-brunswick/
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Hi Ginny!
This is a very interesting topic. I think the idea of a Violence Leave is important and should indeed be implemented, but I agree that only having five days worth of pay may not be enough. I think it is important to not look at all cases the same. Different types/levels of violence can have different impacts on different people. Some may take a lot longer than other to overcome what has happened. I think once their five days of pay run out, it will result in employees using other means of time off with pay such as stress relieve, vacation days, suck days etc. I am also wondering on how to prove this, if required to. HR may be required specialized training for this aspect. What are your thoughts regarding pay and time off? Should an employer be required to pay more? Or a percentage of their regular pay? The following is an interesting blog talking about workplace stress and what Ontario workers rights are: http://stlawyers.ca/workplace-stress/
Thank you for the great post! It taught me something new!
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Hi Alex,
Thanks for reading my post and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed reading it! I agree with you that each case should be looked at differently. I think that’s why there are two types of Violence Leaves, one of which is significantly longer than the other. I agree with you that once their five days of payment run out, it will result in employees using other means fo time off with pay to relieve the financial pressures of this issue. However, I think longer full pay would be financially burdensome for the employer, especially small companies. Indirect discrimination may occur where the employer would try to hire people they deem would not have to take such leaves. I think pay during time off is a sticky issue. On one hand, the employee would like protection, but on the other hand, leaves can be financially burdensome for the employer as the employee would not be providing any service during his or her time off. I think an employer providing 5-days of full pay is actually a lot of money for a company, especially small ones. Thus, I think further financial assistance during the leave should be provided by the government, via a system similar to that of Employment Insurance, the amount being approved based on the person’s wage and the seriousness of the issue. What are your thoughts regarding payment? How do you think furthermore financial insurance, if needed, should be provided?
You’ve brought up a great article regarding stress in the workplace, which I agree, is rising. It is great to know that stress leaves are allowed in Ontario and that it would be difficult for an employer to fire an employee on a stress leave. It’s always good to know that new legislation is evolving in accordance with modern workplace and societal changes!
All the Best,
Ginny
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Hi Ginny,
I find the topic that you chose quite interesting and actually have not heard about it until now. I agree with your opinion in saying that the new legislation would help the victims of these cases and I think that it would be a good thing to implement. I agree with the different issues/possibilities that could happen with the legislation, such as, victims not wanting to speak out and not wanting to take any days off due to the competitive work environment. I think that those factors may even stop most people from taking action or seeking help but it is important that they are at least offered the options and know that they have the support of others while being encouraged to speak up and seek the help they need. Domestic, intimate partner and sexual violence are all very important issues that occur daily. According to Module 03, these cases are considered to be discrimination, a sex discrimination as they feel that they are being sexually harassed. Nobody should feel that way. But another thing to look out for with the new legislation is just to make sure that people are not taking advantage of it and are not wrongly accusing people of harassing them. It is a serious matter and should be taken seriously. You mentioned that you don’t think that a five-day pay may not be enough. How much of a pay do you think is more appropriate? We would also need to ensure that these finances are affordable for the company.
Citation
Webb, S. (2018, September). Module 3: Grounds of Discrimination . Lecture presented in Module 3 by Queen’s University, Kingston.
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Hi Knowren,
Thanks for reading and commenting! I agree with you that offering this new type of leave would encourage victims and parents of victims to speak out against such violences. I was questioning how employers would receive proof of such violences in order to also ensure that employees are not wrongly accusing people of harassing them. However, I do think wrongly accusing people should be a minor issue because this law pertains a more domestic setting, child victims of the employee, or domestic and intimate partner violence. Thus, I do not think employees have an incentive to accuse someone so close to them unless it is a more serious issue. With that being said, the method of proofing such violences, and associated regulations, should be further elaborated.
I think the amount of financial assistance would differ for each case, and thus I can’t say how much pay would be appropriate for this type of leave. I do agree that paid leaves should be affordable for the employer. Therefore, I think the current legislation put a cap on the amount of pay for this leave because they do want to limit the financial burden for employers. Thus, I think further financial assistance should be provided by the government, possibly via Employment Insurance.
All the best,
Ginny
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