Bill 17: Alberta's Fairly Family Friendly Employment Reforms And Curious Labour Changes

On May 24, 2017, Alberta's NDP government introduced Bill 17, the Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act (the "Bill"), after weeks of speculation that it would make changes to the Employment Standards Code and Labour Relations Code prior to the end of the legislative session.

The Bill's proposed key changes to the Employment Standards Code are as follows:

1. Employers will be required to recognize new categories of job protected leave, and employees will now have some of the longest periods of unpaid, job-protected leave in the country. Specifically:
   
   
   • maternity (16 weeks, up from 15 weeks);
   • parental (remains at 37 weeks, but is anticipated to be increased in the future to align with proposed federal Employment Insurance benefits);