HR Policies & Employment Standards

Overview

HR Policies & Employment Standards govern how TheKey hires, compensates, protects, and manages employees across its U.S. and Canadian operations. Given TheKey's multi-jurisdictional footprint — spanning provinces including Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, plus U.S. states including Illinois and Kansas — maintaining compliant, up-to-date policies is operationally critical. Active policy areas include workplace violence and harassment prevention, vacation and sick leave entitlements, occupational health and safety (OHS), employment standards compliance, and anti-discrimination standards. Gaps in written documentation and regional variation in entitlements create ongoing compliance risk.

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Key People

• Cheryl Cartwright — HR lead involved in Ontario compliance, requested workplace violence and harassment posters (2024-03) and responded to vacation policy inquiries
• Christa Carter-Mark — Drove OHS compliance updates for Canada; circulated B.C. Employment Standards Amendment Act notifications and harassment prevention plan communications
• Shameema Cadersaibe — Coordinated with the Benefits team to finalize Canadian vacation policy (2023-05)
• Chuck Terlesky — Involved in Alberta employment standards document review, including iCIMS documents and vacation addenda
• Joey Taylor — Handled Canadian HR operations queries including Montreal sick leave and vacation policy issues
• Maria Cobb — Consulted on Montreal sick leave policy (2024-12)
• Irin Eva — Raised the issue of undocumented Montreal sick leave practice
• Chandani Patel — Outlined OHS requirements including harassment policies and safety committees (2024-04)
• Alina Evans — Involved in OHS policy update distribution (2024-05)
• Sean Cygan — Pointed staff to HR > Policies > Handbooks for harassment policy; involved in B.C. ESA licensing matters
• Carolyn Daoust — Director of Human Resources, TheKey Canada; signatory on employment letters
• Jennifer Allen — Sr. Director of Human Resources; involved in Canadian vacation policy development
• Terence Barfield — Senior Manager, Benefits; involved in vacation accrual policy decisions
• Diane Mockenhaupt — Managed Illinois Paid Sick Leave tracking
• Audra Williams — Announced Traliant anti-harassment training platform (2023-10)

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Processes & Policies

Workplace Violence & Harassment

• TheKey maintains a "Respect in the Workplace Policy" covering both violence prevention and harassment prevention, embedded in the OHS framework [Important: Health and Safety Policies and Procedures Update OHS — 2024-05-21 — Christa Carter-Mark]
• A Harassment Prevention Plan is established per Alberta Section 390.4 requirements [OHS Compliance and Agenda — 2024-07-16 — Christa Carter-Mark]
• Required posters (Ontario) must be posted per provincial law; requests route through the HR Service Center [Posters for Ontario — 2024-03-22 — Cheryl Cartwright]
• The Code of Conduct prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity [TheKey_Principles_Code_of_Conduct.txt]
• Current policy documents are stored at: HR > Policies > Handbooks on the internal system [Re: Harassment Prevention & Complaint Handling Policy — 2024-07-11 — Alina Evans]

Vacation Policy (Canada)

• Standard Canadian vacation entitlement is 4% vacation pay, paid on each cheque
• A revised Canadian Vacation Policy was issued in July 2023, capping vacation at three weeks (15 days) at 6% [Vacation Time Inquiry — 2024-01-09 — Dominique Jacobs]
• Employees with legacy contracts offering more than 4% vacation required individual review; employment offers and agreements were collected for those cases [Vacation Exceptions — 2023-05-17 — Shameema Cadersaibe]
• Alberta employees do not receive vacation days under the provincial addendum; vacation is paid as a percentage per cheque [iCIMS documents Alberta — 2023-06-08 — Chuck Terlesky]
• Unused accrued vacation is forfeited at the start of a new annual accrual cycle (June 1) [Re: Canadian Vacation Policy 2023 v1 — 2023-04-25 — Jennifer Allen]

Sick Leave

• Montreal: 5 paid sick days in practice, but as of December 2024 this had no written policy documentation [Re: Sick Leave - Montreal — 2024-12-16]
• Illinois (Cook County): Employees earn 1.25 hours of sick leave/PTO per 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year; Cook County Sick Leave Policy is a formal documented policy [Re: Illinois PSL Requests 2024 — 2024-08-27 — Diane Mockenhaupt]

Vacation & Sick Time (U.S.) — Revised Policy

• A revised Vacation & Sick Time Policy was announced company-wide on 2024-12-30, affecting full-time, part-time, and benefits-eligible temporary staff [Announcement: Revised Vacation & Sick Time Policy — 2024-12-30 — HR]

Performance Evaluations (Kansas)

• HR notifies supervisors and employees at least one month before initial evaluation
• Initial performance evaluation must occur no later than six months from start date [TheKey_Kansas_Policies_Procedures_Manual.txt]

Onboarding & Required Training

• Required corporate training includes: IT Security (45 min), Preventing Harassment (60 min), Workers Compensation (45 min), Workplace Violence Prevention in CA (15 min) [Sheila Lively Onboarding Calendar.xlsx]
• Anti-harassment training is delivered via the Traliant platform [Traliant Anti-Harassment Training Platform — 2023-10-03 — Audra Williams]
• New hires must also be enrolled in Workday, Workplace, AP, and Salesforce and complete phishing and harassment courses

OHS Requirements (Canada)

• Obligations include: health and safety committee, working alone procedure, emergency response plan, and workplace safety and harassment policies with procedures [Occupational Health and Safety Requirements — 2024-04-17 — Chandani Patel]

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Timeline & Key Events

| Date | Event |

|---|---|

| 2014 | Workplace violence policy established under Home Care Assistance branding |

| 2022-06 | Benefits page launched on Workplace (internal platform) |

| 2022 | Policy and Procedure Manual updated (HCA rebrand) |

| 2023-04 | Canadian Vacation Policy v1 drafted; accrual and forfeiture terms set |

| 2023-05 | Vacation exceptions review launched; legacy Canadian contracts audited |

| 2023-06 | Alberta iCIMS employment documents reviewed; overtime and vacation addenda flagged for correction |

| 2023-07 | Revised Canadian Vacation Policy distributed to all Canadian employees |

| 2023-10 | Traliant anti-harassment training platform announced company-wide |

| 2024-03 | Ontario workplace violence/harassment poster request; B.C. Employment Standards Amendment Act (Bill 2) received Royal Assent |

| 2024-04 | Canadian OHS requirements outlined; harassment prevention plan scope defined |

| 2024-05 | OHS policy and procedures update distributed; "Respect in the Workplace Policy" formalized |

| 2024-07 | Harassment Prevention & Complaint Handling Policy confirmed in HR Handbooks |

| 2024-08 | Illinois Cook County Sick Leave Policy tracking active |

| 2024-12 | Revised Vacation & Sick Time Policy announced (U.S.); Montreal sick leave documentation gap identified |

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Key Decisions

• July 2023 Canadian Vacation Policy cap: Standardized maximum vacation at 3 weeks/6% for all Canadian employees; employees with legacy higher-entitlement contracts were individually reviewed rather than grandfathered automatically
• Alberta vacation structure: Vacation paid as percentage on each cheque rather than accrued days, aligned to Alberta ESA requirements
• Harassment prevention embedded in OHS: Rather than a standalone document, harassment prevention is incorporated into the "Respect in the Workplace Policy" within the OHS framework
• Traliant as anti-harassment training platform: Selected as the company-wide solution for compliance training delivery (2023-10)
• B.C. ESA Bill 2 compliance: TheKey acknowledged the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2024, which automatically adjusts certain ESA provisions; operational response tracked by Christa Carter-Mark

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Open Questions & Gaps

• Montreal sick leave: As of December 2024, the 5 paid sick days practice has no written policy. Maria Cobb was added to the thread but resolution was not confirmed [Re: Sick Leave - Montreal — 2024-12-16]
• Alberta overtime definition: The Alberta addendum in iCIMS was flagged in June 2023 as needing overtime defined explicitly, not referenced to the ESA Guide — unclear if this was corrected [iCIMS documents Alberta — 2023-06-08]
• Legacy Canadian employment contracts: Employees offered vacation above 4% required case-by-case review; it is unclear whether all exceptions were resolved and documented
• B.C. Bill 2 operational changes: Specific operational changes required by the ESA Amendment Act are referenced but not detailed in available records
• Quebec language compliance: HR management documents are flagged in Quebec language situation review (2024-03); it is unclear whether all HR documents meet French-language requirements

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Related Topics

1. Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) Compliance

2. Benefits Administration

3. Canadian Payroll & Provincial Compliance

4. Employee Onboarding & Training

5. Leave Management (Vacation, Sick, PTO)