Significant Labour Relations Code and Employment Standards Act amendments effect all B.C. Companies
The Spring Session of the B.C. The legislature ended on May 30, 2019, and the Employment Standards Amendment and Labour Relations Code Amendment Act were proclaimed into law that day. These acts constitute the greatest giant changes in a long time to employment and labor law and all B.C. Employers should be aware of the impact on their companies.
The Labour Relations Code amended
The Labour Relations Code Amendment Act 2019 (Bill 30) received Royal Assent on May 30, 2019, so Bill 30’s amendments to the Labour Relations Code are now under pressure.
The majority of Bill 30 was passed because it became tabled at first. However, an unmarried amendment was proposed and exceeded by the Liberal and Green Parties.
Section 6 becomes amended to remove a proposed raiding length every 12 months of a collective agreement within the production industry. The code will appreciably provide identical raiding durations in the creative enterprise as in other sectors in B.C.
These raiding periods occur during the final 12 months if a collective agreement time is for a term of three years or much less, and throughout the 1/3 12 months and every 12 months after that if a collective agreement period is for three years or more.
Interestingly, it does not seem that raiding may be authorized after a collective settlement expires if the expired cooperative agreement turns into a term of 3 years or much less. Conversely, if a passed collective agreement lasts more than three years, raiding will be authorized at some point during any “continuation” of the cooperative agreement.
Employers should be especially aware of the following amendments that could affect them immediately:
Successorship between contractors
Successorship may occur among contractors, while more minor services are re-tendered and “significantly similar offerings stay finished, in whole or in part, underneath the course of some other contractor.” Currently, this provision is limited to the following:
(a) Building cleaning offerings
(b) Security offerings
(c) Bus transportation offerings
(e) Non-clinical services supplied within the fitness zone
This provision will apply retroactively to offerings gotten smaller or re-tendered on or after April 30, 2019.
Certification techniques
In the future, certification votes must be carried out within five enterprise days after programs are made. Voices ought to be conducted in character until extraordinary circumstances exist or all events agree in any other case.
“Employer speech” will no longer be usually immune from the unfair labor practice provisions of the code, and guarded speech will most effectively enlarge to “statements of truth or opinion reasonably held with element to the employer’s commercial enterprise.” Communications falling outside this description might also offer a basis for an unfair labor exercise complaint if the conversation interferes with the administration, formation, or choice of a union.
Employers should assess communications or communication plans for any present-day or expected organizing drives.
The “statutory freeze” of fees of pay and different phrases and conditions of employment after new certifications are granted is prolonged from 4 months to 365 days or when a first collective settlement is reached, whichever is in advance.
Applications for expedited arbitration under s. One hundred four of the code should be made within 15 days of the belief of the grievance process. Mandatory case management conferences have to occur within seven days of the Board’s appointment of an arbitrator, and hearings must be concluded within ninety days of the utility.
Collective settlement re-opener
After a successful raid, unions inheriting collective agreements with extra years remaining might also apply to the Board to terminate the contract and start collective bargaining.
Although it’s miles expected that the Board will most effectively grant such re-openers in “awesome” circumstances, what the one’s occasions will entail remains visible.
Filing collective agreements and ancillary documents with the Board
Each celebration to a collective agreement is required to document a duplicate of the contract with the Board. As of May 30, 2019, the Board may also decline not to forget a collective agreement or ancillary record that a celebration wishes to depend on (i.e., E. Memorandums of Agreement or Understanding, adjustment plan agreements reached under s. 54) if not properly filed with the Board.
Employers and unions are advised to diligently ensure that collective agreements, renewals, and ancillary files are nicely filed…