On February 6, 2019, David Yazbeck spoke on a panel on advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights. The panel was organized by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and Oxfam Canada. Panellists touched on aspects of advocacy from the grassroots to international efforts. Remarks were also given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, Kamal Khera, highlighting the federal government’s efforts in promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly its support for feminist and women’s rights organizations.

David is acting as pro bono counsel for Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, which has intervened in an application for judicial review before the Federal Court. This application challenges the federal government’s requirement that organizations receiving summer jobs funding attest to their programs being consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Action Canada has intervened to support the government’s position that this requirement is legitimate and necessary.

Disability Benefits Taxable Implications

With the month of April just around the corner, you may be getting ready to prepare and file your taxes for 2020. Many people ask us whether their Long Term Disability premiums are a taxable benefit in Canada. While there is no easy yes or no answer here, we have provided the important information you may need below. 

Do You Pay Income Tax on Disability Benefits in Canada? 

If you have been in receipt of disability benefits, you will need to understand the tax implications that apply to the disability benefit you have received. Different tax rules will apply depending on the type of benefit received, who paid the premiums for the benefit, and the total amount of income received by an individual in a given tax year.  

Below, you will find summary information about the tax implications when you have been in receipt of disability benefits. This information provides a general review and the implications for your specific situation will differ depending on your specific circumstances. For answers about your specific circumstances, you should consult with a lawyer specialized in this area of practice or a tax professional. 

EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE (EI) SICKNESS BENEFITS

The Employment Insurance program offers temporary financial assistance (up to a maximum of 15 weeks) to people unable to work because of sickness, injury or quarantine. These benefits are usually the first benefits received by an employee after they have exhausted their sick leave and they are unable to return to work because of continued injury or illness.

Employment Insurance benefits are taxable, which means that federal and provincial taxes will have been deducted from your EI payments prior to receipt. Depending on your total income for 2020, you may be required to repay a portion of EI benefits received when you file your taxes.   

If you were in receipt of EI benefits, you will receive a T4E, “Statement of Employment Insurance and Other Benefits” slip, which will indicate if you are required to repay a portion of the EI received. The T4E is issued by Service Canada. 

SHORT-TERM DISABILITY (STD) OR LONG-TERM DISABILITY (LTD) BENEFITS

Short-Term Disability (STD) benefits and/or Long-Term Disability (LTD) benefits provide some income protection when a person is unable to work due to an illness or injury. You may access STD and LTD coverage through purchasing personal insurance coverage and/or through accessing group insurance coverage. Group insurance coverage is generally accessed via an employee benefit plan. 

For more information on when and how to file a claim for Short-Term or Long-Term Disability benefits, please refer to our disability benefits page.

Whether tax is payable will depend on who has paid the premiums for the STD and/or LTD benefits. If any portion of the premiums for STD and/or LTD disability benefits were paid by your employer, the benefits are taxable. If all the premiums for your Short-Term or Long-Term Disability insurance were paid by you, the benefits are generally not taxed. 

Given the importance of the taxability of these benefits, employers, unions, and employees should all be concerned about who pays the premiums on these benefit plans.

If you are unsure as to who is paying the premiums for your disability plan, you can contact your insurance provider and they will notify you as to whether your benefits are taxable or not.

CANADA PENSION PLAN DISABILITY (CPPD) BENEFITS/ QUÉBEC PENSION PLAN (QPP) DISABILITY PENSION

The CPP disability benefit and QPP disability benefit are available to assist people who are unable to work in any capacity due to severe and prolonged disability. If you have qualified, and are receiving Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits or Quebec Pension Plan Disability Pension, you should be aware that these benefits are taxable income. All the amounts received from CPP or QPP must be reported in your tax return. 

You would receive a T4A(P) “Statement of Canada Pension Plan Benefits” tax slip at the beginning of the year if you received benefits from the CPP or the QPP. The T4A(P) will indicate the amount of benefits you received in the previous year. If you received QPP benefits, you would also receive a RL-2 “Relevé 2: Retirement and annuity income” slip. 

DISABILITY TAX CREDIT (DTC)

The CRA offers several tax credits to offset a disabled individual’s tax liability. A common tax credit accessed by people receiving CPP Disability Benefits is the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). This is a non-refundable tax credit that is available to persons who are experiencing severe and prolonged disability. 

The DTC tax credit assists to reduce the amount of income tax payable for persons with disabilities. Acknowledging that there are unavoidable additional expenses for persons with disabilities helps to provide greater tax equity. 

Accessing this tax credit requires a separate application, and not all persons in receipt of disability benefits will qualify. To apply, a specific form (Form T2201) must be completed by a medical practitioner and submitted to the CRA. The CRA then determines eligibility based on the information provided by the medical practitioner. 

A notice of determination will be provided to the applicant and will indicate which year(s) the applicant is eligible to claim the DTC. If the notice indicates that an applicant does not qualify, it will explain why. The notice may also include information about other programs that are available to individuals who qualify for the DTC. 

If a person would have been eligible for the DTC in prior years, but had not applied when they filed those taxes, they can seek a reassessment of the prior tax returns through the CRA.  

IMPORTANT LONG TERM DISABILITY TAX FORMS

CANADA PENSION PLAN DISABILITY (CPPD) BENEFITS/ QUÉBEC PENSION PLAN (QPP) DISABILITY PENSION

• T4A(P) Statement of Canada Pension Plan Benefits
• RL-2 Relevé 2: Retirement and Annuity Income

DISABILITY TAX CREDIT (DTC)

• Form T2201

HELP FOR PERSONS WITH LOW INCOME 

If your income is below qualifying thresholds, you may be able to access free assistance to complete your tax returns through a community organization. More information about free tax clinics to assist Canadians can be found by following this link. 

Consult one of our experienced Long-Term Disability lawyers at Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne and Yazbeck LLP if you have any questions.

On October 31, 2018, Julia Williams participated in a panel discussion at the University of Ottawa on “Interview Landmines.” The panel was a Q&A with lawyers offering insight into how to deal with difficult questions about race, gender, sexual orientation, family plans, and more during recruitment processes.  Julia would like to thank the University of Ottawa Association of Women and the Law (UOAWL), one of the largest equity-seeking groups at the University of Ottawa, for inviting her to participate in this event.

The firm gratefully acknowledges the contribution to this post by articling student Megan Fultz.

The Ontario government made good on its promise to repeal the labour and employment reforms enacted by the Liberals, when it introduced Bill 47, the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, on October 23, 2018. Bill 47 reverses most changes from the Liberal’s Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, also known as Bill 148, enacted last year. Bill 47 will likely pass before the legislature breaks on December 13, 2018.  If Bill 47 passes, it will take effect on January 1, 2019.

Bill 148 represented a significant, if imperfect, effort to advance workers’ rights. Bill 47 unquestionably tips the scales back in the other direction, favouring the protection and rights of employers. It also reduces the amount of oversight in the enforcement of employment standards and the consequences for breaching the Ontario Labour Relations Act.

Overview of major changes in Bill 47

The changes in Bill 47 are numerous and they universally favour employers at the expense of workers. The major changes include: 

Minimum Wage Frozen – Under Bill 148, minimum wage was set to increase to $15.00 per hour in January, 2019. Bill 47 will freeze it at $14.00, with no increase until October 1, 2020, at which time it will only increase at the rate of inflation.

Reduced Fines for Employers – Bill 47 reverses the increased fines for offences under the Labour Relations Act enacted in Bill 148. Fines are going down to $2,000 for individuals, reduced from $5,000, and to $25,000 for organizations, down from $100,000.

No More Paid Emergency Leave – Under Bill 148, all Ontario workers were entitled to two paid and eight unpaid days of Personal Emergency Leave. These ten days of leave allowed workers to take time for either their own urgent needs, or to care for the urgent needs of their loved ones. Bill 47 eliminates Personal Emergency Leave and replaces it with eight days, all unpaid, under three specific categories: sick leave (three days), family responsibility leave (three days), and bereavement leave (two days).

No Equal Pay for Equal Work – Bill 148 introduced equal pay for equal work, meaning employees performing the same work must be paid the same, regardless of whether they were full-time, part-time, casual, and temporary workers. Bill 47 will repeal this protection and allow for some workers to be paid less solely on the basis of their employment status. Bill 47 also removes certain protections for workers who believe they are experiencing wage discrimination on the basis of sex. Under Bill 148, workers could request a review of their pay, requiring employers to either provide a written explanation of how the worker’s pay is compliant with wage discrimination laws, or adjust their pay. These requirements and protections will be repealed under Bill 47.

Burden on Workers to Prove Employee Status – Bill 148 shifted the burden to the employer when there is a dispute about whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor: employers had to prove that the worker was not an employee. Bill 47 shifts the burden back to the employee to prove that they are an employee and not an independent contractor.

Remedial Certification No Longer Mandatory – Under Bill 148, if a union was prevented from obtaining enough votes to certify because of an employer’s influence and interference with its employees, the Ontario Labour Relations Board was required to certify the union as a remedy to that interference. Under Bill 47, remedial certification is no longer required; instead, the Board has to consider whether to certify the union or merely order a secret ballot vote.

This list represents just some of the regressive changes made by Bill 47 that will impact Ontario workers. Bill 47 also introduces changes that will affect workers’ scheduling and “on call” rights, public holiday pay, card check certification, and return-to-work rights, among others.

Dark days for workers’ rights

Bill 47 represents a significant step backwards from the progress made by Bill 148. The Ontario government has framed these changes as aimed at improving the economy and helping businesses, but the scope of the changes reveals the true aim to be reducing or removing protections for workers. Employers will have far fewer obligations to their employees, and will even face reduced penalties if they disregard the modest obligations they still have. Bill 47 looks less like making Ontario “open for business”, and more like “open season” on Ontario’s work force.

[This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, which cannot be given without consideration of your individual circumstances.]

On December 4, 2018, Lancaster House presented its 2018 Bargaining in the Broader Public Sector Conference at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. The conference tackled current issues facing unions and their members when dealing with collective bargaining in the broader public sector, including such key issues as the role of politics and the Charter at the bargaining table, the changing face of the workforce, and the future of work.

David Yazbeck was pleased to be selected as the union-side co-chair for this conference and to assist in organizing the conference and moderating various panels during the day.

Please note our office will be closed from December 22, 2018 until January 1, 2019. We will reopen for regular business hours on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 8:30 am.

Warmest wishes for a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year.

RavenLaw is pleased to announce that David Yazbeck has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Copyright Visual Arts – Droits d’outeur Arts visuels (COVA-DAAV). COVA-DAAV is the business operating name of CARCC, which is a copyright collective founded by Canadian Artists’ Representation – Le Front des Artistes Canadiens (CARFAC) in 1990 to assist artists in administering their copyrights. David is also a member of the Board of CARFAC and, as part of the governance structure for COVA-DAAV, CARFAC is entitled to appoint board members to the COVA-DAAV Board.

David is excited for this opportunity to continue his advocacy efforts on behalf of visual artists in Canada, particularly as it relates to protecting and promoting artists’ copyright in Canada and Quebec. Any interested artists from Canada and Quebec may affiliate with Copyright Visual Arts.

On September 29, 2018, Julia Williams was a panelist at the Ontario Region – Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers’ second annual conference (OnCALL2) in Kingston, Ontario. Julia participated in the “Ten Minute Labour Lawyer” panel, presenting on the recent arbitral decision in City of Kingston v CUPE 109. Julia would like to thank the organizers of OnCALL2 for inviting her to participate in this event.

On October 12, 2018, Morgan Rowe presented as part of the Union of Taxation Employees’ National Health and Safety Conference. Morgan’s presentation addressed the proposed changes to federal harassment protections introduced by Bill C-65, as well as recent cases on harassment and work place violence in federal workplaces.

On October 15, 2018, David Yazbeck appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, acting on behalf of Copyright Visual Arts – Droits d’auteur Arts visuels (COVA-DAAV). Currently, the Committee is undertaking a review of the Copyright Act. David’s presentation related to recommendations by COVA-DAAV regarding improvements to the Act which would assist visual artists.

In particular, COVA-DAAV is recommending three changes to the Act:

1. The inclusion of limitations on the educational fair dealing provisions so that the interests of visual artists and users are more balanced, and interference in collective licensing is removed;
2. The removal of the 1988 cut-off date for the exhibition right so that artists with works created prior to that date would benefit from that right as it applies to those works; and
3. The establishment of the artist’s resale right, a right which would require the payment of a royalty on transactions of secondary public art sales (i.e. where an artist’s work is sold subsequent to the first sale).

While all of these measures may seem minor, visual artists have among the lowest incomes in Canada and each measure would benefit visual artists immensely.

The full presentation can be viewed here.