Labour Union and Employees Association
Financial Accountability Act, 1996
EXPLANATORY NOTES
The proposed Act applies to labour unions and employees associations under collective bargaining agreements that employ persons in Ontario, including persons employed as dependent contractors, directors or officers. It requires labour unions and employees associations to make available to the public without charge an annual statement of their assets and liabilities and an annual record of the names, positions, salaries and benefits of their employees to whom they pay salaries of at least $100,000 a year and to deliver a copy of the statement and the record to the Minister of Finance.
A person who is a member of a labour union or employees association and who feels that the labour union or employees association has not complied with the requirements of the Act may file a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. If the Board finds that the labour union or employees association has not complied with the requirements of the Act, it may order that the labour union, the employees association or a person licensed under the Public Accountancy Act prepare a revised statement or record as required by the Act.
The Government may hold back part or all of its funding to a labour union or employees association that fails to comply with the requirements of the Act.
The Act creates offences for a labour union or employees association that fails to comply with the requirements of the Act and for directors and officers of the labour union or employees association.
There is regulation making authority, among other things, to prescribe an amount of salary other than $100,000 for the purposes of the Act.
Bill1996
An Act to promote Full Financial Accountability of Labour
Unions and Employees Associations to their Members
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
Purpose
1. The purpose of this Act is to assure the public disclosure of,
(a) the assets and liabilities of labour unions and employees associations; and
(b) the salary and benefits that labour unions and employees associations pay in respect of employment to employees to whom they pay a salary of $100,000 or more in a year.
Definitions
2. In this Act,
"benefit" means each amount that an employee,
(a) is required by subsection 6 (1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) to include in income from an office or employment, or
(b) is required by section 6 of that Act, except subsection 6 (1), (3) or (11), to include in income from an office or employment as a benefit, within the meaning of that Act, or as an amount in respect of a group term life insurance policy; ("avantage")
"employee" means a person employed by a labour union or an employees association in Ontario and includes a dependent contractor within the meaning of the Labour Relations Act, 1995, a director or an officer of a labour union or employees association; ("employé")
"employees association" means an association of employees that is recognized as the exclusive bargaining agent of the employees in an agreement in writing between the employees and their employer that sets out the terms of employment of the employees; ("association d'employés")
"labour union" means a trade union within the meaning of the Labour Relations Act, 1995; ("syndicat")
"salary" means the total of each amount received by an employee that is,
(a) an amount that the employee is required by section 5 of the Income Tax Act (Canada) to include in income from an office or employment,
(b) an amount deemed by subsection 6 (3) of that Act to be remuneration of the employee for the purposes of section 5 of that Act, or
(c) an amount received by the employee by reason of a right to receive a deferred amount under a salary deferral arrangement mentioned in subsection 6 (11) of that Act. ("traitement")
Disclosure Obligations
Asset and liability disclosure
3. (1) Not later than March 31 of each year beginning with the year 1997, every labour union and employees association shall make available for inspection by the public without charge an audited statement on its financial affairs to the end of its last fiscal year ending in the previous year.
Person making statement
(2) The statement shall be certified by the treasurer or any other officer of the labour union or employees association responsible for the handling and administration of its funds.
Contents of statement
(3) The statement shall indicate the year to which the information in it relates and shall list the assets and liabilities of the labour union or employees association in accordance with the standards that may be prescribed by the regulations made under this Act.
Location and time of inspection
(4) A labour union or employees association required by this section to make a statement available to the public by March 31 in a given year shall allow the public to inspect it without charge at a suitable location on the premises of the labour union or employees association at any time during the normal working hours of the labour union or employees association throughout the period beginning on March 31 and ending on March 30 of the following year.
Salary disclosure
4. (1) Not later than March 31 of each year beginning with the year 1997, every labour union and employees association shall make available for inspection by the public without charge a written record of the amount of salary and benefits that it paid in the previous year to or in respect of an employee to whom it paid at least $100,000 as salary.
Contents of record
(2) The record shall indicate the year to which the information in it relates, shall list employees alphabetically by surname, and shall show for each employee,
(a) the employee's name as shown on the payroll records of the labour union or employees association;
(b) the office or position last held by the employee in the labour union or the employees association in the year;
(c) the amount of salary that the labour union or the employees association paid to the employee in the year;
(d) the amount of benefits that the labour union or the employees association reported to Revenue Canada, Taxation under the Income Tax Act (Canada) for the employee in the year.
Statement instead of record
(3) For any year beginning in the year 1996 in which a labour union or an employees association has no employees to whom it paid at least $100,000 as salary, it shall, not later than March 31 of the following year, make available for inspection by the public without charge a written statement, certified by its highest ranking officer, that it paid no employees in the year a salary of $100,000 or more.
Location and time of inspection
(4) A labour union or employees association required by this section to make a record or statement available to the public by March 31 in a given year shall allow the public to inspect it without charge at a suitable location on the premises of the labour union or employees association at any time during the normal working hours of the labour union or employees association throughout the period beginning on March 31 and ending on March 30 of the following year.
Publication of record
(5) A labour union or employees association that normally issues an annual report or statement on its activities or financial affairs, shall include in the annual report or statement the record or statement that this section requires it to make available to the public for the year ending in the period covered by the annual report or statement.
Copy of statements
5. (1) Not later than March 31 of each year beginning with the year 1997, every labour union and employees association shall deliver to the Minister of Finance without charge a copy of,
(a) the audited statement on its financial affairs that it is required to make available to the public under section 3 for its last fiscal year ending in the previous year; and
(b) the record or statement that it is required to make available to the public under section 4 with respect to salary and benefits that it paid in the previous year.
Copy to public
(2) A labour union or employees association shall promptly deliver to any person, other than the Minister of Finance, a copy of a statement or record that it is required to make available to the public under section 3 or 4 if the person requests a copy and pays the labour union or employees association the fee prescribed by the regulations made under this Act.
Time of request
(3) Subsection (2) applies even if the request is made after the period mentioned in subsection 3 (4) or 4 (4).
List
(4) A labour union or employees association that delivers a copy of a statement or record under subsection (2) shall keep a list of the names and addresses of persons to whom it delivers a copy.
No copyright
(5) There is no copyright with regard to a statement or record mentioned in section 3 or 4, and the information contained in it may be published by any member of the public to whom it is made available.
Enforcement
Complaint to Board
6. (1) A person who is a member of a labour union or employees association and who feels that the labour union or employees association has not made available to the public a statement or record as required by section 3, 4 or 5 or that a statement or record that it has made available to the public under this Act contains false or incomplete information may file a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
Powers of Board
(2) Sections 96, 97, 98 and 108 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 apply to the complaint with the necessary modifications in the circumstances.
Correction of statements
(3) If the Ontario Labour Relations Board finds that a labour union or employees association has failed to comply with section 3, 4 or 5 or has provided false or incomplete information in a statement or record that it is required to make available under this Act, the Board shall notify the Management Board of Cabinet in writing and may order that,
(a) the labour union or employees association promptly,
(i) prepare a revised statement or record as required by section 3 or 4, as the case may be, and that is accurate and complete, and
(ii) deliver a copy of it without charge to the Minister of Finance and every person to whom the labour union or employees association has delivered a copy of the unrevised statement or record under subsection 5 (2); or
(b) a person licensed under the Public Accountancy Act or a person who is a member of a firm whose partners are licensed under that Act prepare a revised statement or record as required by section 3 or 4, as the case may be, and deliver a copy of it to the labour union or employees association and every person to whom it has delivered a copy of the unrevised statement or record under subsection 5 (2).
Cost of revised statements
(4) The labour union or employees association shall pay the cost of having a revised statement or record, as the case may be, prepared under clause (3) (b).
Withholding payment
7. (1) If a labour union or employees association does not deliver to the Minister of Finance a statement or record that it is required to deliver under subsection 5 (1) or if the Ontario Labour Relations Board gives a notice under subsection 6 (3), the Management Board of Cabinet may direct that a ministry of the Crown withhold part or all of any amount that the ministry is authorized by appropriation of the Legislature, by statute or by agreement to pay to the labour union or employees association to fund an activity or program of the labour union or employees association.
End of withholding
(2) Subject to subsection (3), an amount withheld under subsection (1) shall be paid to the labour union or employees association from whom it is withheld only when the labour union or employees association,
(a) complies with section 3, 4 or 5, as the case may be; and
(b) has not provided any false or incomplete information in the statements and records that it is required to make available under this Act.
Loss of right to payment
(3) A labour union or employees association ceases to be entitled to payment of an amount withheld under subsection (1) if it has not become entitled under subsection (2) to receive the amount by March 31 next following the date on which the direction to withhold was given, and in that case the amount withheld becomes part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Offences
8. (1) A labour union or employees association is guilty of an offence if it,
(a) fails to comply with section 3, 4 or 5; or
(b) provides false or incomplete information in a statement or record that it is required to make available under this Act.
Penalty
(2) A labour union or employees association that is convicted of an offence under subsection (1) is liable to a fine of not more than $25,000.
Directors, officers
(3) Every director or officer of a labour union or employees association is guilty of an offence who,
(a) knowingly causes, authorizes, permits or participates in the commission by the labour union or employees association of an offence mentioned in subsection (1); or
(b) fails to take reasonable care to prevent the labour union or employees association from committing an offence mentioned in subsection (1).
Penalty
(4) A director or officer who is convicted of an offence under subsection (3) is liable to a fine of not more than $2,000.
Application of other Act
(5) Sections 107 and 109 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 apply to an offence under this section with the necessary modifications in the circumstances.
General
This Act prevails
9. The provisions of this Act prevail over any other Act, any regulation made under any other Act or any agreement unless another Act specifically mentions those provisions and provides otherwise.
Regulations
10. (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make any regulations the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to carry out the intent and purpose of this Act, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,
(a) exempting a labour union or employees association from a provision of this Act;
(b) prescribing standards that a labour union or employees association shall observe in preparing the audited statement on its financial affairs mentioned subsection 3 (1);
(c) providing that this Act applies, with necessary modifications, with regard to a specified aggregate amount of salary and benefits for a year in the same way that it applies with regard to a salary of $100,000 for the year and prescribing that aggregate amount of salary and benefits;
(d) providing that an amount other than $100,000 applies for the purposes of section 1, subsections 4 (1) and (3) and clause (c) of this subsection and prescribing that amount;
(e) providing that specified payments that a labour union or employees association makes to or in respect of an employee be included in or excluded from the definition of "salary" or "benefit" for the purpose of this Act and prescribing those payments;
(f) providing that a payment from a labour union or employees association to a corporation that provides to the labour union or employees association the services of an officer or employee of the corporation shall be deemed under specified circumstances to be a payment to an employee of the labour union or employees association for the purpose of this Act, prescribing those circumstances and prescribing the information that the labour union or employees association shall make public and include in a record under section 4 under those circumstances;
(g) prescribing methods in addition to or in place of those mentioned in this Act by which information to be made available to the public under this Act may be disclosed, and requiring labour unions, employees associations or classes of them to disclose information by a particular method;
(h) prescribing the fee that may be charged under subsection 5 (2) for furnishing a copy of a record or statement;
(i) defining "fund" for the purpose of subsection 7 (1) and "promptly".
Scope
(2) A regulation made under subsection (1) may be general or particular in its application and may be restricted in its application to the class or classes of labour union, employees associations or employees set out in the regulation.
Retroactivity
(3) A regulation made under subsection (1) is, if it so provides, effective with reference to a period in the year in which it is filed that predates the time at which it is filed.
Commencement
11. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Short title
12. The short title of this Act is the Labour Union and Employees Association Financial Accountability Act, 1996.