child, an employee will be entitled to 104 weeks of unpaid leave. Public holiday pay – Employees would be entitled to their average regular daily wage. An employer is required to give notice to employees if they are required to work on a public holiday and will be required to state the day off that will be substituted in its place. Vacation – Employees with five or more years of service will be entitled to a minimum of three weeks of vacation per year. Also vacation pay increases from four per cent to six per cent. Minimum wage – The hourly minimum wage will be raised to $14 on January 1, 2018, and to $15 on January 1, 2019, and will be subject to an annual inflation adjustment on October 1st of every year beginning in 2019. Inflation is about two per cent, which means someone earning $15 will earn $15.30 after year one, and the wage will compound making the minimum wage over $17 in five years. To put this into perspective, the last time my office raised its fees was three years ago and the increase was two per cent. Patients, in general, may balk at yearly fee increases of two per cent, so as DCs we really need to know our patient base before we decide to make annual hikes. no choice but to increase our fees in 2018. This new legislation will cost us and every other business owner more money. We must modestly increase our fees to maintain our after-expense revenues. Just because the government raises your expenses does not mean you should take a haircut on your profits. Reduce employee hours – Find what you can do, what you can delegate to co-op students, and identify slow times during the week when employee hours may not be necessary. A reduction of just three hours per week will save you more than $2,200 per year. Get an employment lawyer – The time will come when the cost of keeping someone will exceed the value of what they do for your business. In these cases it may be more cost efficient to terminate their employment. This is when you need professional help to make sure you give enough sever-ance to avoid being sued. Write your MPP – This may seem like an “old school” approach, but over the course of time it is a dependable way to get the direct attention of your elected representatives. As health professionals if we say nothing or do nothing about changes that affect our profession, then amendments will never be made. You can find more articles on business development and practice building online at www.canadianchiropractor.ca. What can you do? Raise your treatment fees – These changes may leave us Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College @backsinmotion www.canadianchiropractor.ca CC_CMCC_Feb18_CSA.indd 1 February 2018 Canadian Chiropractor 15 2018-01-19 1:02 PM
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