Is your Canadian operation ready for the Equal Pay Act requirements? On Aug. 31, 2021, following the enaction of the federal Pay Equity Act, federally regulated employers with 10 or more employees had three years to develop their pay equity plans. This time frame is now coming to an end. Employers must give the employees covered by their draft plan 60 days to provide comments; the employer must then consider these comments when preparing the final version of the plan. Thus, employers to whom the September 3 deadline applies should already have posted their plan for comment. To develop a pay equity plan, federally regulated employers must carry out the exercise required by the Pay Equity Act and its regulations, which is summarized here. The Pay Equity Act also prescribes the required content of the plan. Following the posting of the final version of their pay equity plan, employers will be required to implement any necessary compensation increases. These increases must be paid in full the day following the third anniversary of becoming subject to the Act (that is, September 4, 2024, for most employers) at the latest, unless an employer is permitted to phase in the increases.  If you are not prepared, contact your Canadian legal counsel.  Source: Borden Ladner Gervais 7/8/24

Are you listing ghost jobs? About 81% of recruiters say that their employer posts “ghost jobs,” or positions that either don’t exist or are already filled, according to a new report from MyPerfectResume, a resume building platform. Jasmine Escalera, a career expert for MyPerfectResume, says this figure is staggering, and discouraging for candidates looking to land a new role. Not only are recruiters fessing up to the tactic, they’re also admitting to how common it is. Around 17% say up to three quarters of their job announcements aren’t genuine, while 21.5% say ghost jobs account for half of all positions they post, 36% say a quarter of their postings are fake or already filled, and 18% of headhunters report that less than one tenth of their work advertisements aren’t real. About 38% say they post fake positions to maintain a presence on job boards when they aren’t hiring, 36% do so to assess the effectiveness of their job descriptions, 26% want to build a talent pool for the future, 26% hope gain insight into the job market and competitors, and 25% want to assess how difficult it would be to replace certain employees, according to the report. And you wonder why HR gets a bad rap.  Source:  Yahoo 8/20/24

U.S. has more immigrants than any other country: According to the Pew Research Center, the United States has long had more immigrants than any other country. In fact, the U.S. is home to one-fifth of the world’s international migrants. These immigrants have come from just about every country in the world, the U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 46.1 million in 2022.  Growth accelerated after Congress made U.S. immigration laws more permissive in 1965. In 1970, the number of immigrants living in the U.S. was less than a quarter of what it is today.  Immigrants today account for 13.8% of the U.S. population. This is a roughly threefold increase from 4.7% in 1970. However, the immigrant share of the population today remains below the record 14.8% in 1890. Mexico is the top country of birth for U.S. immigrants. In 2022, roughly 10.6 million immigrants living in the U.S. were born there, making up 23% of all U.S. immigrants. The next largest origin groups were those from India (6%), China (5%), the Philippines (4%) and El Salvador (3%). Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil and Canada each had about 50,000 to 60,000 new immigrant arrivals. Most immigrants (77%) are in the country legally. As of 2022 the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. showed sustained growth for the first time since 2007 to 11 million.  Source:  Pew Research Center 7/22/24

What’s your bereavement policy? More than 57% of Americans experienced a major loss over the last three years, according to a recent study from Amerispeak and WebMD. And yet, insurance company New York Life Foundation's recent State of Grief Report found that only 63% of respondents had dedicated time off specifically for bereavement, with just 47% receiving paid leave for such circumstances. 35% of employers offer one to three days of bereavement leave, according to recent data from comprehensive grief support platform Empathy, and 45% offer four to five days. Only one in five companies offer more than five days of leave after experiencing a loss, Empathy found, even though experts recommend taking up to 20 days off work. It's not from lack of employee demand, either. In fact, 71% of employed adults expressed interest in voluntary workplace grief support training, according to New York Life's report, and another 85% of respondents actually prefer it when employers are committed to fostering grief-supportive environments. 71% of employees consider bereavement-related benefits somewhat or very important when deciding on a new job.  This means that meeting those needs are not only beneficial for employees' overall wellness, but also for a company's longevity.  Source:  EBN 7/29/24

Illinois requirements concerning criminal backgrounds and failure to hire:  An employer can terminate or refuse to hire based on a criminal conviction, according to Illinois law, if: 1) there is a substantial relationship between the crime and the job or 2) hiring or retaining the convicted worker would create an unreasonable risk to property or safety. However, employers cannot simply decide on their own that one of these factors exists. Employers must complete an interactive process to determine whether a worker's conviction is worthy of an adverse action.  First, the employer must send the individual notice that their conviction is the reason they may not be hired or may be terminated. The notice must: 1) give a specific reason why the conviction may be disqualifying, 2) provide a copy of any conviction history report the employer relied upon, and 3) give the worker the right to contest the accuracy of the conviction history report or provide evidence of mitigation. If the worker responds within five business days, the employer can do an analysis under law.  If the employer still intends to refuse to hire or to terminate the worker, it can move to the last step, final notification to the worker. The employer must notify the worker that the conviction is the basis for the adverse decision and must provide the reasoning behind that decision. The employer also must inform the worker of any existing procedure to request reconsideration of the decision and must inform the worker of their right to file a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.  Source:  Barnes & Thornburg 7/26/24