BILL 21
An Act to Amend An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:
1 Section 8 of An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, chapter 13 of the Acts of New Brunswick, 2013, is repealed and the following is substituted:
8 The Act is amended by adding after section 65 the following:
Corporate directors’ liability
65.1( 1) This section does not apply with respect to corporations that are operated on a not-for-profit basis, including corporations incorporated under section 16 or 18 of the Companies Act and corporations that have been incorporated in another jurisdiction with objects that are similar to the objects of corporations incorporated under section 16 or 18 of the Companies Act.
65.1( 2) Despite any other Act and subject to subsections (3), (5) and (6), a person who is or was a director of a corporation is jointly and severally liable with the corporation to an employee or former employee of the corporation for
(a) up to six months of wages owing to an employee or former employee that were earned or became due and payable while the person was a director, and
(b) up to 12 months of vacation pay or pay in lieu of vacation owing to an employee or former employee that accrued or became due and payable while the person was a director.
65.1( 3) A director or former director shall not be liable under subsection (2) unless
(a) the Director has made an order requiring an employer that is a corporation to pay a stated amount under subparagraph 65(1)(c)(i) or (ii),
(b) the stated amount referred to in paragraph (a) has not been paid and it has been at least 30 days since the date the order was made, and
(c) a notice of the joint and several liability has been sent to the director or former director and it has been at least 30 days since the notice was received.
65.1( 4) A notice referred to in paragraph (3)(c) may be sent at the same time that an order is made requiring an employer that is a corporation to pay a stated amount under subparagraph 65(1)(c)(i) or (ii) or after the order has been made.
65.1( 5) A director or former director shall not be liable under subsection (2) if he or she exercised reasonable diligence to provide for the payment of the amounts referred to in that subsection.
65.1( 6) Despite paragraph 64.2(1)(a), a director or former director shall not be liable under subsection (2) for an administrative penalty imposed under that paragraph on an employer that is a corporation.
65.1( 7) If the conditions of subsection (3) are satisfied, the Director may make an order requiring a director or former director of the corporation who is liable under subsection (2) to pay all or some of a stated amount under subparagraph 65(1)(c)(i) or (ii).
65.1( 8) No order may be made under subparagraph 65(1)(c)(i) or (ii) against a former director of a corporation who is liable under subsection (2) more than two years after the date the former director ceases to be a director of the corporation.
65.1( 9) If a director or former director of a corporation complies with an order to pay under subparagraph 65(1)(c)(i) or (ii), nothing in this Act affects any right the director or former director has to bring an action against the corporation or against one or more directors or former directors of the corporation for contribution or indemnification for the amount paid.
2 Section 12 of the Act is amended by repealing paragraph 85(c.3) as enacted by section 12, and substituting the following:
(c.3) prescribing the amount payable for an administrative penalty in respect of a contravention, which may vary according to whether it is a first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth contravention;