March 8, 2019
The BC Ministry of Labour has launched its public consultation on the province’s Employment Standards Act. This will be the first time in 15 years since major changes were made to the Act and 25 years since the government’s last comprehensive review.
The BC Law Institute carried out the Employment Standards Reform Project, resulting in a report containing 71 recommendations for reform to the Act. (Access the report here) The BC government is considering improvements based on this report as well as a review of employment standards in place in other provinces. The Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) met with the Ministry of Labour in March 2018 to speak about the significant economic impacts of the franchise industry to the province, advise about the franchise business model, and inform about potential impacts to franchising from government policy decisions.
The Ministry of Labour has released a proposal paper and is seeking feedback on key thematic areas including:
Theme 1 – Increasing protection of child workers
Theme 2 – Transforming the Employment Standards Branch
Theme 3 – Supporting families through difficult times with job-protected leaves of absence
Theme 4 – Strengthening workers’ ability to recover wages/monies owed
Theme 5 – Clarifying hours of work and overtime standards
Theme 6 – Improving fairness for terminated workers
The deadline for public submissions is March 31, 2019.
The CFA has struck a committee comprised of members of the Legal & Legislative Affairs and Government Relations Committees to respond to the BC government’s request. We are currently in the process of reviewing the paper and the report to identify issues that may impact the franchise business model and franchising in BC. We will keep CFA members apprised as we move forward.
Should you have any questions, contact Kenny Chan at kchan@cfa.ca.
