The employer and employees (and, if applicable, the union) must agree to participate in a work-sharing agreement and apply together. The COVID-19 optimized measures put in place by Service Canada were intended to reduce the processing time before the agreement start date to 10 business days (from 30 business days). Therefore, employers must currently submit their applications at least 10 business days before the desired start date of the agreement (see Work-Sharing Program-COVID-19 for more details). The Canadian government has put in place temporary special measures extending the maximum duration of work-sharing agreements from 38 weeks to 76 weeks across Canada for businesses affected by the COVID-19 business decline and for the steel and aluminum sectors. Go to the Temporary Special Measures for Division of Labor page to see if you are eligible. Second, under the CARES Act, all workers who receive unemployment benefits of any kind (whether total unemployment benefits because they are not working at all or short-time work benefits due to reduced working hours) will receive an additional $600 per week (commonly referred to as „unemployment surge“) until July 31, 2020. This added benefit alone will ensure that most employees participating in a work-sharing plan will be at the top or even in the lead. 3. Employers are generally required to confirm that their work-sharing program is necessary to avoid dismissal or leave. As a result, participation in a work-sharing program may prevent employers from making closures, layoffs, holidays or other changes to their work-sharing programs for a certain period of time. Similarly, some states may prevent employers from hiring new employees until the existing workforce has returned to normal working hours. If the accusing party has claims that go beyond the law, the calculating party will hire legal counsel to make the additional claims that have nothing to do with the law.

EEOC Work-Sharing Agreement and Cooperation with Local FEPAsThe Ministry has concluded a work-sharing agreement with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC). 7. While many states allow exempt employees to participate in work-sharing programs, potential complexities can arise when they are included in the work-sharing program. First, work-sharing programs require employers to track hours worked, which employers rarely do for exempt workers. Second, since compensation for exempt workers is not supposed to vary based on hours worked, a reduction in hours (and pay) may terminate the exemption. While there are Ministry of Labour guidelines that support the view that a temporary reduction in working hours and a proportionate reduction in wages in the event of an economic downturn do not violate the basic wage criterion and therefore do not destroy the exemption), employers should be aware of the potential risks and consider options to mitigate them. To participate, an employer usually submits a division of labor plan to the agency for approval. Once the organization has approved the employer`s plan, the employer may temporarily reduce the hours of work and compensation of some or all of its employees in accordance with the plan, and affected employees may receive unemployment benefits related to the reduction. 4.

Employers should carefully consider the scope of their potential division of labour plan and identify precisely the groups involved. Employers have some flexibility in defining the applicable „group“ or „unit“ of employees as part of a division of labour plan (e.g., B by department, function and shift). Depending on the state, employers can submit multiple plans for different groups. For example, an employer could submit a 20% reduction in hours for its marketing department and a second plan for a 30% reduction in hours for the operations department. Therefore, when considering introducing layoffs, leaves or reductions in hours of work for some or all of their employees, employers should consider whether a work-sharing program is right for them. The time is especially right to do so, as the Coronavirus Relief, Assistance and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) provides that all employees who receive unemployment benefits (in whole or in part) will receive an additional $600 per week until at least July 31, 2020. .