On Monday May 27, the UCP-led Government of Alberta introduced
Bill 2: An Act to Make Alberta Open for Business. Bill 2 passed its
first reading and is aimed at reversing some of the legislative
changes made by the NDP during its time in government. If passed,
Bill 2 will amend the Employment Standards Code and
Labour Relations Code to remove certain obligations placed
on employers under the previous legislative scheme.
Regarding the Employment Standards Code, Bill 2
proposes a return to previous general holiday pay provisions which
distinguished between whether or not the holiday fell on an
employee's regular work day. Under this approach, employers
are only required to provide holiday pay where the holiday falls on
a date which would have been a regular work day for the employee.
Bill 2 also proposes a return to previous overtime provisions which
provided that banked overtime can be taken as time off work on a
1:1 hour-for-hour basis. Bill 2 retains the NDP
