Third

Session, 48th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2018

BILL 32

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LABOUR

STANDARDS ACT

Received

and Read the First Time ................................................................

Second

Reading ............................................................................................

Committee .....................................................................................................

Third

Reading ...............................................................................................

Royal

Assent .................................................................................................

HONOURABLE AL

HAWKINS

Minister of Advanced

Education, Skills and Labour

Ordered to be printed by

the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This

Bill would amend the Labour Standards Act

to establish a category of leave for employees where an employee or a person to

whom an employee is a parent or caregiver has been subjected to family

violence.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

LABOUR STANDARDS ACT

Analysis

1. S.6.1 Added

Confidentiality

Part VII.7 Added

43.33

Definitions

43.34 Entitlement to leave

43.35 Notice

43.36 Employee protection

43.37 Regulations

3. Commencement

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cL-2

as amended

1. The Labour

Standards Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 6 the

following:

Confidentiality

6.1

(1) A

person shall keep confidential all information that comes to his or her knowledge

in the administration of Parts VII to VII.7 or relating to the exercise of his

or her powers and duties under those Parts.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), an employer or

a person employed by an employer may disclose information that comes to his or

her knowledge where

(

a) the employee to whom the information relates consents

to the disclosure;

(

b) the disclosure is required by this Act or

another Act or regulation; or

(

c) the disclosure is required by the employer for

the administration of Parts VII to VII.7 or to exercise the powers and perform

the duties conferred or imposed on the employer under those Parts.

2. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 43.32 the following:

PART VII.7

FAMILY VIOLENCE LEAVE

Definitions

43.33 In this Part,

(a) "family violence" means

an act or

omission described in

section 3 of the Family

Violence Protection Act ; and

(b) "parent" means

(

i) a parent of a child,

(ii) the spouse of a parent of a child or a person

living with a parent of a child,

(iii) a person with whom a child has been placed for

the purpose of adoption,

(iv) a foster parent of a child, or

(

v) a person who has the care or custody of a child,

and is considered to be like a close relative, whether or not that person is

related to the child by blood or adoption.

Entitlement to

leave

43.34

(1) An

employee, having been employed with the same employer for a continuous period

of 30 days, shall be granted by his or her employer a period of family violence

leave of 3 days paid leave and 7 days unpaid leave in a year where the employee

or a person to whom the employee is a parent or caregiver has been directly or

indirectly subjected to, a victim of, impacted or seriously affected by family

violence or has witnessed family violence by

(

a) a person who is or has been a family member;

(

b) a person who is or has been in an intimate

relationship or who is living or has lived with the employee;

(

c) a person who is the parent of a child with the

employee;

(

d) a person who is or has been a caregiver to the

employee; or

(

e) any other person who is a member of a class of

persons prescribed in the regulations.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), an employee

shall not be granted a leave of absence under this Part unless it is

(

a) to allow the employee or a person to whom the

employee is a parent or caregiver to seek and receive medical attention,

counselling or other services from a health professional for physical,

psychological or emotional harm or an injury or disability that is a result of the

family violence;

(

b) to allow the employee or a person to whom the

employee is a parent or caregiver to seek and receive services provided by a

of a province or municipality or any organization that provides services to

persons who have been directly or indirectly subjected to, a victim of, impacted

or seriously affected by family violence or have witnessed family violence;

(

c) to allow the employee to move his or her place

of residence;

(

d) to allow the employee or a person to whom the

employee is a parent or caregiver to seek and receive legal services or assistance

including services or assistance with respect to his or her participation in or

the enforcement of a legal proceeding relating to or as a result of the family

violence; or

(

e) for a purpose prescribed in the regulations.

(3) An employee who wishes to take a leave of

absence under this Part may be required to provide the employer with reasonable

verification of the necessity of the leave in accordance with the regulations.

(4) The wages to which an employee is entitled

under subsection (1) shall be calculated by multiplying the employee's hourly

rate of pay by the average number of hours worked in a day in the 3 weeks

immediately preceding the family violence leave.

(5) An unused portion of the period of leave

provided for in this

section expires at the end of the year in which it was

granted.

Notice

43.35

(1) An

employee who intends to take family violence leave under this Part shall give

written notice to his or her employer as soon as possible before the leave is

to begin of that intention, unless there is a valid reason why that notice

cannot be given.

(2) An employee who gives notice under subsection

(1) shall include in that written notice to the employer the length of the

leave of absence that the employee intends to take.

Employee protection

43.36

(1) An

employer shall not dismiss an employee or give notice of dismissal to an

employee because an employee intends to take, applies for or takes a leave of absence

under this Part.

(2) Where an employee is dismissed by his or her

employer contrary to subsection (1), the onus of proving that the reason for dismissal

is unrelated to the family violence leave rests with the employer.

(3) An employer shall reinstate an employee at the

are not less beneficial than those that subsisted before the leave of absence

began.

(4) Unless the employer and the employee otherwise

agree, a period of leave under this Part does not count towards the application

of the rights, benefits and privileges conferred by this Act upon an employee,

but the period worked upon resumption of employment after leave shall be

considered, for the purpose of this Act, to be continuous with the period

worked before the leave.

Regulations

43.37 The

Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations

(

a) prescribing classes of persons for the purpose

of paragraph 43.34(1)(e);

(

b) prescribing a purpose for which an employee

may be granted a leave of absence under this Part;

(

c) respecting the verification required under subsection

43.34(3), including the types of documents and records that may be used as

verification and from whom they will be accepted; and

(

d) generally, to give effect to this Part.

Commencement

3. This

Act comes into force on January 1, 2019.

Queen's Printer