LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Employment Benefits

Apr 1: Bill 6 permitting transfers of assets from a registered Newfoundland pension plan to a pension plan that’s not registered in the province, subject to certain conditions passed the Assembly. The Bill also adds new Pension Benefits Act definitions of “solvency assets” and “solvency ratio.”

Employment Benefits

May 15: Under newly published Newfoundland Pension Benefits Act Regulations amendments, the transfer value of a pension benefit as of a given date must be determined by multiplying the commuted value by the lesser of 1.00 and the most recently determined solvency ratio.

New Laws

May 15: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced that it will establish a Food Fishery season for Newfoundland and Labrador that will run from Memorial Day/Canada Day to Labour Day each year. The fall fishery will also remain and take place from the second last weekend in September to the last weekend of September. For the first time, these dates will be set by a fixed formula, so fishers can plan ahead to get on the water without waiting for an additional announcement from DFO.

New Laws

Apr 14: Newfoundland and Labrador released details on its new streamlined process for fish processing licensing in the province, including an updated Fish Processing Licence application and a new Conditional Processing Facility application. Under the new simplified process, applicants will no longer have to identify their sources of raw materials.

Immigration

May 15: Newfoundland launched public consultations on how to revise its immigration laws, processes, and policies to enhance protections for foreign workers. Deadline to comment: June 30.

Action Point: Find out what companies and their HR directors need to know to navigate the immigration law maze.

Training

June 12: June 12 is the deadline to apply for 2026 Job Creation Partnerships (JCP) funding for community-based, not-for-profit projects that provide EI eligible individuals with opportunities to gain work experience and improve their employment prospects.

Action Point: If your company is feeling the effects of tariffs, you need to find out more about the temporary EI Work Sharing program changes.

Workplace Violence

June 7: June 7 is the deadline to apply for 2026 Community Violence Prevention Grants of up to $50,000 for projects to prevent gender-based violence and support its victims, especially in the remote rural areas of the province.

Accessibility

May 29: May 29 is the deadline for Newfoundland nonprofit organizations, municipalities, local service districts, and Indigenous organizations to apply for accessibility grants of up to $25,000 per project for initiatives to build capacity, offer programs or services, and promote inclusion of disabled persons beyond physical infrastructure.

Action Point: Find out more about accessibility laws across Canada.

Workers’ Compensation

May 7: Under newly passed Bill 10, Temporary Earnings Loss (TEL) benefits beyond 24 months will be included when calculating a worker’s retirement benefit. Under current workers’ compensation rules, only Extended Earnings Loss benefits are counted. The change will apply retroactively to January 1, 2019. While the amount a worker receives depends on their TEL benefits, on average, that increase would be about $5,800 per worker.

Workers’ Compensation

Apr 27: WorkplaceNL’s newly published 2026-28 Strategic Plan lists implementing Path 2 of the PRIME Program as a key OHS priority for the next three years. The agency launched Path 1 in 2023 offering workers’ comp refunds to small employers. Path 2 is for the remaining 1,000 or so large employers who collectively represent 78% of the province’s lost-time injuries. To qualify for PRIME refunds, those employers must implement a 15-element program incorporating OHS best practices.

CASES

There are no cases to report on for this jurisdiction this month.