New Brunswick Labour Minister Trevor Holder announced that the province’s new Progressive Conservative government will be introducing legislation to reduce the workers’ compensation assessment rates that employers pay.
This is one of the recommendations that Restaurants Canada made during the provincial election campaign in September. (Click here to learn more about the key issues that Restaurants Canada rallied around during the New Brunswick election campaign.)
Holder said he hopes MLAs from the three opposition parties will support the legislation and allow it to pass before the legislature breaks for winter holidays. Starting in the new year, employers will be paying an average of $2.92 for every $100 of payroll — almost double what they were paying just two years ago. But if the new legislation is passed quickly enough, there’s a narrow legislative window that would allow WorkSafeNB to partially roll back the increase before Jan. 31.
The premium was $1.11 in 2016, $1.48 in 2017 and $1.70 this year.
According to CBC News, the other parties are inclined to support the new legislation, though Green Leader David Coon said he’d like to see a quick examination of the bill by a committee of MLAs. (Click here to read the full report from CBC.)
The proposed legislative changes are based on recommendations by a task force that issued a report in July.
If you have any questions or would like more information, you can get in touch with Luc Erjavec, Restaurants Canada Vice President, Atlantic Canada, at lerjavec@restaurantscanada.org or 1-800-387-5649 ext. 5000.
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