Pay Rates for 2022 and 2023
We are still waiting for information from government on the pay increase effective April 2022. We understand that this increase will be in the range of 3.25% and will be paid for all your hours worked back to April 2022. The announcement of new rates will probably include the increase scheduled for April 2023. As soon as we hear from government that the rates and funding have been confirmed, we will give you a timeline for the increases. Thank you for your patience.
Government Deduction Changes in 2023
It’s 2023 and there have been changes to some of the numbers that we use to calculate your net pay. Here is a summary of the changes:
- Canada Pension Plan (CPP): The rate for employee and employer deductions has increased from 5.7% to 5.95%. The increases are part of CPP Enhancement Plan that aims to move the CPP from the 2018 target of providing 25% of your income in retirement to a new target of providing 33% of your income in retirement. This is the last increase in the plan for most employees. You can click this link for more information on the CPP Enhancement Plan.
- Employment Insurance (EI): The EI rate for employees has increased from 1.58% to 1.63% and is adjusted annually to account for changes in usage of employment insurance. The one significant change to Employment Insurance this year is an increase in duration of sickness benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks. You can click this link for more information the change to EI Sickness Benefits.
- Municipal Pension Plan (MPP): The MPP rate for employee contributions did not change this year and remains at 8.61%.
- Worksafe BC (WCB): Employers pay the Worksafe BC rate on wages paid. This year the rate has increased again to 3.60%. This is an increase from 3.18% last year. Our experience rating provided us with an 8.8% savings because our injury rate is below the industry average. Thank you to everyone for being careful, watching for risks, and following safety guidelines.
Sick Pay Updates
In 2022, the Provincial Government updated provincial employment standards to add the requirement for employers to provide five paid sick days per year to employees after their first 90 days of employment. For employees with permanent positions, we already provide 12 days per year of sick time so they are not affected by the change. For casual and part-time employees, this is a new benefit. Since 2020 we have been coping with Covid and we have been providing some additional leaves for covid isolation or sick time without using employee sick banks. Going forward, effective Feb 9, 2023, we will be using employees’ sick pool (either casual or permanent) for their sick time due to covid or any other illness. Let us know if you have any questions.
CPP – January 13 2023 Payroll Error
Some of you may have noticed that there was no CPP deduction on your January 13th paystub. This was due to a setup error in ComVida. After payroll had been completed, we corrected the problem and re-calculated the payroll, meaning that everybody owed a little bit for their CPP deduction. This amount was added to an item called Advance and will be deducted from your January 31, 2023 payroll. On your January 31st paystub, you will see CPP deducted for this period and a deduction called Advance for the CPP from January 13th. Let us know if you have any questions. Sorry for the confusion.
Optional Life and Disability Insurance
In November, Sun Life offered optional life and disability coverages to employees who are currently covered by the Group Benefits plan. The premiums for these optional coverages will be deducted from the end of month payrolls and you will see the first deduction on the January 31, 2023 with the description OPTLIFE. If you have any questions or are interested in optional coverages, you can write to hr@spectrumsociety.org.
Payroll Schedule 2023
Here is a link to the payroll schedule for 2023:
https://www.spectrumsociety.org/human-resources/pay-schedule/