Mandy Kwasnica and her husband’s lifelong dream to add children to their family has come true. The couple recently brought two children — Anya, 9, and Artem, 11 — to Canada after adopting them from the Ukraine (the new family of four is pictured above). “The second day we saw them, [Anya] had cards for […]
More than a third (38 per cent) of plan sponsors are planning to update their benefits plan design by the end of this year, on par with those that did so in 2020 (39 per cent), according to a survey by Arthur J. Gallagher Canada Ltd. The survey, which polled more than 500 Canadian plan […]
While more than half (58 per cent) of Canadian employers provide top-up pay for maternity leave benefits, just 33 per cent offer top-ups for parental leave benefits, according to a new survey by Aon. The survey, conducted among 207 Canadian employers, found 53 per cent provide income replacement of 95 per cent to 100 per […]
The Conservative Party is promising, if elected, to extend employment insurance parental benefits to parents experiencing the trauma of a miscarriage, stillbirth or loss of a child. “Every year, thousands of Canadian parents struggle with the loss of a child, but our current benefits system does not provide the proper support for grieving parents,” said […]
Confusion as to what constitutes family status discrimination in Canada continues to vex employers. “The Supreme Court of Canada had an opportunity to create a uniform test across the country in 2019 but chose not to hear the case,” says Gary Clarke, the Calgary and Vancouver-based national co-head of Stikeman Elliott LLP’s employment and labour group. […]
Mandy Kwasnica and her husband so desperately wanted to adopt they were ready to sink all of their money (and then some) into making their dream a reality. “Adoption is very, very expensive, but we knew in our hearts that this was the right move we were making,” recalls the manager of mortgage sales support at […]
Employee benefits and total rewards planning have always been a critical element of business planning, but never more so than during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Mercer Canada conducted a recent client poll which showed that unlike previous years, most Canadian organizations still had not set their salary adjustment budget for 2021 as of early November. While […]
New research is suggesting a bump in the number of fathers planning to take time off with a new baby under a nascent national leave program could be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s been more than a year since the Canadian government started offering the use-it-or-lose-it extra weeks of paid leave for non-birthing parents. The program was […]
Manulife Financial Corp. is increasing its family leave support for Canadian employees, providing 20 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of paid parental and adoption leave, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Canadian employees and their dependants also now have access to full gender affirmation coverage for both surgical and non-surgical treatments, as well as […]
Images of parents trying to shush their kids during work Zoom meetings are now as commonplace as, well, Zoom meetings. With many people six months into working from home due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, employers can often literally see employees with kids trying to juggle it all. A new survey by Willis Towers Watson found the three-quarters (74 per […]