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Reservists Job Protection Superthread

It would be awfully nice to see this in each and every Province. Hopefully Manitoba just opened the gates for the rest to follow through.

Regards
 
Saskatchewan just recently passed something similar to that to protect civilian jobs of those individuals wishing to go on tour and i believe it also covers time off for training. 
 
Good on Manitoba, perhaps the title of the thread should be modified to not mislead people ;)

However it's good to see the provinces get on board with legislation like this, I wonder how long it will take Ontario to get up to speed  ::)
 
If someone has the actual details, could they post it here:

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/58333.0.html
 
Wow
Penisions,job retainment,makes me wonder why the heck I do this full time.

(Not a slam,I'm serious)
 
too bad i had to quit my job in Alberta to go on 1-08  :)

hopefully this trend catches on quickly elsewhere
 
very misleading without any soucre to back it

Without an actual link to Manitoba's Employment Standards Act, detailing the actual provisions of the changes to the act, the papers article is pretty much useless.  I just spent 2 hours perusing and searching the changes comming in force on 30 April 2007 with respect to the act.....no mention in the least of anything relating to service with the CF.    Should anyone find any relevant information, please post er up.
 
If you want more detailed information send an email to the dept of labor or the minister
 
The news article says that the protection extends to Reservists "sent" on active duty.  I wonder if they are covered if they "volunteer"? This could mirror the Federal legislation that only covers Reservists if they are involuntarily deployed.

If that's the case, it looks good on paper and in press for the Manitoba government but is essentially useless to the soldier.
 
News release from the Govt of Manitoba website (www.gov.mb.ca)

April 5, 2007

MANITOBA INTRODUCES LEGISLATION THAT WOULD PROTECT RESERVISTS' JOBS WHILE THEY SERVE


Legislation that would protect the jobs and benefits of civilians who are in the reserves and leave for extended periods to serve their country was introduced by Labour and Immigration Minister Nancy Allan today. Amendments to the Employment Standards Act would ensure reservists’ civilian jobs and benefits would be waiting for them when their service is completed.

“We commend those employers who honour informal commitments and support their workers who serve in the reserves,” said Allan. “Reservists who leave their jobs to serve their country should feel secure knowing that their right to return to their civilian jobs is protected by law.”

The demand for reservists is growing with Canada’s commitments abroad.  Up to 20 per cent of some overseas deployments consist of reservists.  Since 2000, more than 4,000 primary reservists have been deployed for Canadian Forces operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Haiti and other international hot spots.  Manitoba has approximately 700 reservists, about half of whom are employed in civilian jobs.

The minister noted the Labour Management Review Committee, made up of business and labour representatives, was consulted on the issue and gave unanimous support to the proposal.

The Employment Standards Act already provides unpaid leave and job protection in the areas of maternity, parental and compassionate-care leave. Recent amendments to the code that take effect April 30 will provide unpaid leave and job protection for family responsibilities, illness and bereavement.



I have sent an email requesting further clarification on the issue, and the actual wordings of the act.  They can be contact at the fol:
Telephone: 204-945-3352 or
Toll free in Manitoba 1-800-821-4307
Fax: 204-948-3046
E-mail: Employmentstandards@gov.mb.ca



Lets hope this doesn't prove to be "essentially useless to the soldier".
Those in Provinces with similar act already in place, should take the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the acts, no sense having soldiers make foolish mistakes based upon misleading or misguided information.




 
I'm trying to get clarity from someone about this.  Does anyone know about Reservist job protection in NS? Upon reading the provincial Canadian Forces Reservists Protection Act, it all comes down to the meaning of the word "required."

"An employee, who has been employed by an employer for at least one year and is required to be absent from the employer's civilian employment for purpose of service, is entitled to an unpaid leave of absence upon"

Canadian Forces Reservists Protection Act  - CHAPTER 13 OF THE ACTS OF 2006
http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/legc/bills/60th_1st/3rd_read/b080.htm

Apparently this is suppose to come into affect this summer.  Any input?
 
My only input would be a hope that this makes it's way into the House of Commons and becomes Federal law. RegF pers are getting rundown with all these roto's, and you have tons of reservists that would like to do a tour, but can't because they have a good civilian job that they would have to quit.
 
my guess would be that required means career courses bmq,sq,dp1, and things such as dom ops/aid of the civil power stuff, not guys who volunteer for tours. It would have to be done in the same manner as the US Ntnl Guard whereby the entire CBG is activated, trained, and deployed, so the GG up and says hey 41 CBG you're going type thing
 
From the link above:

"'service' means a period of active duty or training in the Reserves;"

To me that includes Tours, but clarification is needed I suspect.
 
I imagine somone will test it soon, and then a judge will provide interpretation, clarification, and precedent.
 
Prior to the third reading of the bill I was able to talk to the CFLC NS Liason Capt.(N) W.
I brought to his attention a lot of interpretations and definitions that had to be outlined prior to the approval of the Bill. He asked me what I thought about it, as he was going to talk to the local MPs[Ministers of Parliment]. And I had a couple of issues.

One, they have to define what they meant by "Military Training". Does it refer to workup training, courses, weekend ex's, or even your weekly parade night?

Two, it states that notice must be given in a "resonable amount of time" to the employer of a reservist. This needs to be defined, because someone could give 3 months notice but have his/her boss say "It's not enough notice" and threaten to fire them. It's too much power for an employer to have if this bill is supposed to protect reservists.

Three, they removed the protection for those with civi jobs from the first reading (position holding, and penalties for break the law). Therefore this bill is really only for students.

Four, the penalties for breaking the bill need to be higher. The max is a $5000 fine that a large company can esily absorb instead of protecting a job for someone going on workups and deploying. This bill needs to enforce and deter 'slick willy' companies from getting rid of reservists who want to deploy.

And I gave him those recommendations, but I guess they were never put in.
 
Glad to hear someone pointed the issues out.  It's unfortunate that no one listened.  As its written now, the Company I work for could easily get out of allowing me to use this.
 
I was at a meeting yesterday of HR types and asked if anyone else had input to this, ref a similiar bill/act in BC.  No one had heard of one (yet) and were only able to cite a program where the CF goes out and seeks employers who voluntary apply this principal to their own company policies.  Anyone able to help out and tell me the name of the CF group doing this?  (I tried sveral searches but I must be using the wrong search words because no success so far...) 
 
The Canadian Forces Liaison Council.

http://www.cflc.forces.gc.ca/
 
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