The Occupational Health and Safety Acts and the Employment Standard Codes are some of the rules set In Canadian workplaces. While ESC establishes the minimum standards of employment in a specific jurisdiction in different areas, such as payment of wages, leaves, termination of employment, and overtime pay, the OHSA is safety and health standards set to minimize workplace hazards. Both Employment Standard Code and Occupational Health Safety Act sets out the right, responsibilities, and obligations of both the employers and employees within the organization. This paper will analyze three divisions of Part 2 of the ESC, including termination of employment prohibited during maternity leave and parental leave, Basic vacation entitlement, and records to be maintained. These three selected divisions outline the minimum standards concerning the employees’ rights and employers’ obligations. The paper will also discuss part 1 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including the Obligations of employers, supervisors, and workers. The act outlines different obligations for the three distinct roles to ensure that everyone is responsible for ensuring that there are hazards at the workplace.
Employment Standards Code
Termination of employment prohibited during maternity leave and parental leave
The division mainly covers the marginalization experienced by pregnant women in the workplace. Regrettably, some employers may go as far as to terminate mothers’ employment during their maternity leave and parental leave based on their commitment and capacity to deliver tasks based on their absence from work. Discrimination is another critical issue noted in this division since the parents on leave may feel discriminated against and disfranchised based on their condition thus the division plays a critical role in addressing discrimination.
As a human resource professional, it is necessary to ensure that maternity leave and parental leave are not taken into account when determining accessing workplace opportunities or termination of employment. However, the organization can implement any organizational changes while an employee is on maternity or parental leave as long as they are not disadvantaged in any way by the decisions such as termination of employment.
Basic vacation entitlement
The basic vacation entitlement division stipulates employees’ entitlement to the minimum paid vacations. The employee must attain two weeks of pay after every four years of employment and three weeks of pay after five consecutive years of employment (Employment standards rules – vacations and vacation pay, n.d). The division is important because it gives a guideline on employees’ entitlement to paid vacation and clearly outline how human resource should award it. It is also an important division because it compels employers to give their employees vacation time and simultaneously mandates them to take the vacation they are entitled to. The division will ensure that the employees are given a break from work to enable them to balance their work and social lives making them feel more relaxed, ready, and motivated to handle more challenging workplace activities after return to work. Employers can show their care and well-being to their employees through the basic vacation entitlement division, thus ensuring positive working relationships that will translate to a more committed and motivated workforce that effectively drives productivity.
HR professionals should ensure compliance with the employment standard by ensuring that the organization has a vacation policy within the organization. Besides, the regulation should be clearly outlined in the employment contract to improve communication and implementation of the employment standard. The organization should also encourage the employees to take their vacation days according to the organization’s policy and employment contract on vacation (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021).
Records to be maintained
Records management is one of the most critical functions of any HR department. The employment standard requires employers to keep an updated record of every employee within the organization. Some critical records to be maintained include employees’ names, addresses, employment start date, date and time worked, copies of written contracts to work overtime, vacation time records, deduction earnings, and reasons for those deductions, among other information needed by the regulation.
The regulation on records to be maintained is critical for the employer as they can keep track of their employees’ records for decision-making purposes. Employees can also track their records or information for their informed decisions regarding such areas as vacation time, overtime pays, and working years, among other important information. Records also help the organization comply with government regulations. The HR needs to ensure compliance by implementing a well-defined records management policy within an organization in the HR department which will be communicated to the employees for them to understand their significance.
Occupational Health and Safety Standards
Employers
Employers play a critical role in ensuring the health, safety, and welfare of the workers and any other person or stakeholder who may be influenced by the workplace controllable hazards from the workplace. Employers should adequately train workers to promote safety at the workplace. Readily available information regarding work site hazards, controls, and work procedures should be readily available to minimize workplace accidents or hazards.
The important responsibilities of the workers include promoting all stakeholders’ health, safety, and welfare against any controllable hazard at the workplace and frequent and effective training programs for workers on health and safety at the workplace. I chose the first responsibility because it touches on the organization’s internal (employees) and external (suppliers, customers) stakeholders. The second responsibility is to increase or build the capacity of the workers on health and safety.
The primary role of HR is to organize training programs on health and safety topics to increase awareness. Besides, HR should keep employees motivated by enhancing a positive work experience while fostering a workplace safety culture.
Supervisors
Supervisors should advise workers of the known or foreseeable hazards to health and safety in the working environment. Supervisors should also act as a link between the employer and the employees by reporting any unsafe work site that has either existed or has occurred. These are the two most responsibilities because they ensure the promotion of health and safety standards of employees under their direct supervision. The HR has a critical role in administering and implementing a safety program with organizational safety culture, health and safety policies and procedures, and enhancing effective and transparent communication between supervisors and the management to foster a safety program.
Workers
All employees at the workplace play a critical role in ensuring that they take necessary and reasonable precautions which promote their health and safety. Also, they are required to utilize all the materials, tools, devices, and clothing provided to mitigate any hazard at the workplace as provided by the employer. These are the two most important responsibilities of workers since it helps them develop a positive health and safety mindset towards occupational health and safety standards at the workplace. The positive attitude of the employees will promote behaviors such as using personal protective equipment that mind both their health and that of other co-workers (Jonathan & Mbogo 2016).
HR’s responsibility is to set the tone of health and safety straight during the recruitment process to ensure that the right workforce is added to the organization. Other than providing PPEs, HR should also conduct frequent training and development programs to help workers maintain safety.
Conclusion
ESC was established to create minimum standards of employment in a specific jurisdiction in different areas such as payment of wages, leaves, termination of employment, and overtime pay while the OHSA is safety and health standards set to minimize workplace hazards. Contracts of Employees on maternity or paternity leave should not be terminated as this is against employment standards. Employers should encourage employees to use their pay vacations to promote their well-being. Every HR department should keep updated employees’ records for decision-making. Employers, supervisors, and workers play a critical role in ensuring health and safety at the workplace.
References
Employment standards rules – vacations and vacation pay. Alberta.ca. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2, 2023, from https://www.alberta.ca/vacation-pay.aspx
Indeed Editorial Team. (2021). Everything you need to know to create a vacation policy. Retrieved February 2, 2023, from https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/vacation-policy
Jonathan, G. K., & Mbogo, R. W. (2016). Maintaining Health and Safety at Workplace: Employee and Employer’s Role in Ensuring a Safe Working Environment. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(29), 1-7.
