SFL responds to labour changes in Bill 5

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) has reviewed Bill No. 5 – An Act to Amend the Saskatchewan Employment Act and provides our analysis below.

Likely to echo other labour organizations in their responses, the Ministerial Advisory Committee has previously been a platform for stakeholders to discuss legislative changes. That process was not engaged for the bill, and the SFL encourages a return to that platform for future legislative and regulatory changes.

Not all amendments have been noted in our analysis, but rather the priorities determined through consultation with affiliated unions on Bill No. 5 and/or considerations proposed in the SFL’s 2023 submission to the Ministry on employment standards.

The proposed legislation responded positively to three (3) of the SFL’s 2023 submissions on employment standards:

• Explicit protection of tips against employer theft
• Creation of end-of-pregnancy leave
• Expanded application of bereavement leave

While disappointed that paid sick leave was not incorporated into this legislation, the SFL cautiously supports the limited protections for employees from sick note demands from their employer.

In consultation with the unions we represent, the SFL has identified three paramount concerns with the proposed amendments to employment standards in the Saskatchewan Employment Act.

Increasing group termination notice threshold

Increasing the threshold for group termination notice from 10 to 25 is a concern to workers, as it intentionally shifts the balance to the employer. The SFL has not been provided rationale for this proposed change.

In the face of tariffs and economic uncertainty, decreasing this notice safeguard stands to unfairly harm workers. This could facilitate ‘stealth layoffs’ which are not only bad for workers, but for their communities and the economy as well.

Without mandated termination notice, pay in lieu of notice of termination – a standard to ensure an element of fairness to workers suddenly put out of work – is jeopardized.

Eliminating the two-day rest provision (AKA ‘the weekend’)

This legislation appears to remove any remaining provisions enshrining ‘the weekend’ in labour legislation. Since 2007, the two-day rest provision was rolled back in previous amendments to the SEA, and this will further shift the balance to the employer. The SFL has not been provided rationale for this proposed change.

The weekend has been a fixture of Saskatchewan work and commerce for a century, and one of the labour movement’s most celebrated victories for good reason. Not only will the end of two-day rest provisions create more unpredictability for workers and erode work/life balance, consecutive days off are connected to more spending on hospitality, local tourism, and fuel sales. Removing the last reference to the weekend is not just symbolic, it’s also bad for the economy.

Changing the definition of a day

The legislation makes significant changes to the definition of a workday, which shifts the balance to advantage the employer. The rationale provided for the change is claimed to be to align with Alberta and other jurisdictions. The SFL would discourage looking to Alberta for best practices in workplace safety and employment standards.

The proposed adjustments to ‘the day,’ not unlike the changes to the weekend, has implications on the work/life balance of working people. Further, this adjustment intends to make it easier to manipulate and even eliminate overtime costs, disproportionately impacting workers with irregular or inconsistent hours of work.

Any provision that allows for more hours with less compensation is bad for workers and bad for the economy. And when workers can be scheduled more hours with less pay and rest, it impacts the health and safety of the workers and those they serve.

This bill makes other changes that shift the balance to employers at the expense of workers. These include the ‘waiver clause’ of meal break and scheduling entitlements, and the exclusion of vacation entitlements from termination and layoff payments to workers. The SFL condemns all proposed changes that shift the balance to employers at the expense of workers’ job security, compensation, or safety.

Additionally, the SFL questions the changes to the statutory review period to ten years from five years.

Aside from what is found in this bill, the SFL notes some key omissions that stakeholders were asked to consider about employment standards in 2023. Provisions on the right to disconnect, paid sick leave, and the expansion of employment standards to gig/platform workers are notably absent from this proposed legislation.