In February the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) released a report for the Minister of Finance with budgetary considerations. The Canadian Payroll Association announced that this report makes two recommendations that could impact payroll, and are working with key government officials to ensure any changes do not create an additional administrative burden for employers or payroll professionals. 

Employment Insurance (EI) Reform Recommendations:

FINA recommended making a full review of the current EI system to provide additional income support for self-employed or low-income individuals, including:

• Extending the duration of EI sickness benefits
• Establishing a legal definition of self-employment status
• Proposing an extension of income support programs through EI and other programs, including the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy

The EI program is heavily reliant on payroll data, therefore these potential changes could have financial and administrative impacts on employers, including:

• The ways in which payroll data is shared with the government to administer benefits, especially in the case of extending EI to self employed individuals
• Rates and premiums may be increased as the result of extending benefits to additional groups
• The extension of EI sickness benefits could impact an employer’s own sick and/or disability plans, and the employer’s ability or willingness to participate in the EI Premium Reduction Program.

E-Payroll Support Recommendations

FINA made several recommendations relating to labour market data collection, including investments in privacy and security. These recommendations support an earlier proposal to develop an e-payroll system. The implementation of such a system could ease the administrative burden of employers and payroll professionals by ways such as eliminating the need for issuance of Records of Employment.

It will be the responsibility of payroll professionals to ensure updates and changes are properly implemented in their organizations. Contact us today to talk about outsourcing your payroll. Let us worry about any changes so you can focus on bringing your business to its full potential!