Recently, the Government of Alberta introduced Bill 2: An Act to Make Alberta Open for Business, in addition to creating a new youth minimum wage.

Prior to the 2019 election, the AHLA met with United Conservative Party representatives to share the impacts of provincial labour legislation that had been passed under the former government. Many of the proposed changes are aligned with AHLA recommendations.

“We are pleased to see that the new government is listening to our members’ concerns, and we look forward to working with them on other issues,” said Dave Kaiser, president and CEO of the AHLA.

We will advise our members if and when these changes take effect.

What do these changes mean for employers?

If passed, Bill 2 would result in the following changes:

      A. General Holiday Pay & Banked Overtime

  • Return to a holiday pay qualifying period of 30 work days in the last 12 months before a general holiday.
  • Return to regular/irregular workday distinctions:
    • If a holiday falls on a day that is normally a workday for the employee and they worked on the holiday, they are still entitled to the same amount of general holiday pay as before. There are two options for paying employees holiday pay:
      • The employee gets 1.5 times their regular wage for hours worked and average daily wage.
      • The employee gets their regular wage rate for hours worked and average daily wage with one day off work.
    • If a holiday falls on a day that is normally a workday for the employee and the employee did not work on the holiday, they are entitled to their average daily wage.
    • If a holiday falls on a day that is not normally a workday for the employee and they work on the holiday, they are still entitled to 1.5 times their regular wage rate for hours worked.
    • If the holiday falls on a day that is not normally a workday for the employee and the employee did not work on the holiday, they are not entitled to general holiday pay.
  • Give employers and employees the option to develop straight-time banked hours arrangements and repeal Flexible Averaging Agreements (proposed changes to overtime banking mean these agreements would no longer be needed).

If passed, general holiday pay and banked overtime changes would take effect on September 1, 2019.

      B. Labour Relations

  • Restore the mandatory secret ballot for all union certification votes.
  • Return to a 90-day period for unions to provide evidence of employee support for certification.
  • Establish a program to support and assist employees to better understand and exercise their rights under labour legislation.
  • Strengthen rules that coordinate employment-related complaints when these complaints involve multiple forums.

If passed, Labour Relations changes would take effect upon Royal Assent.

Youth Minimum Wage

The new youth job creation wage of $13 per hour will apply to students aged 13 to 17. It will take effect June 26, 2019.

Under the current legislation, an employer can choose between a youth with minimal experience or an adult with more experience for the same rate, creating a barrier to youth employment. Under the new legislation, however, hiring a less experienced youth will be a more attractive option from a financial standpoint, thus encouraging employers to seriously consider giving more young employees their first jobs.

Nothing prohibits an employer from increasing wages based on merit as young employees gain work experience and job skills.

More information:

Bill 2: An Act to Make Alberta Open for Business

Government of Alberta: Youth minimum wage rates

UCP Introduces Changes to the Alberta Employment Standards Code and the Alberta Labour Relations Code, a blog post by our convention sponsor, Bennett Jones