Weekly Liquor Industry Update: May 5, 2022

Dear ABLE BC Members and Industry Colleagues,

Here's what you'll find inside today's update:

  • ABLE BC is Coming to a City Near You!

  • Reminder: SEP Holders are Permitted to Purchase from Private Liquor Stores

  • Liabilities Related to Workplace Vaccination Policies

  • Canada Recovery Hiring Program (CRHP) Apply by May 7

  • Hiring Foreign Workers Webinar with Alison Langford May 11

  • go2HR Launches HR Toolkit for Vancouver, Coast & Mountains Region

  • Join the Quarterly Pour Editorial Committee

  • BC Seeking Feedback on Cannabis Consumption Spaces

  • Out and About with ABLE BC!

Find all past updates here.

ABLE BC is Coming to a City Near You!

ABLE BC is hitting the road and hosting in-person liquor industry meetings around BC and we can't wait to meet you!

These meetings are open to owners, managers, and staff members from liquor stores, pubs, bars, nightclubs, hotels, and other liquor industry professionals. We are inviting both ABLE BC members and non-members, so please feel free to pass this invitation along to your hospitality and retail colleagues. 

Come meet ABLE BC’s Executive Director, Jeff Guignard, for a discussion of:

  • What is ABLE BC and how do we work?

  • Update on current liquor industry issues

  • Learn about the issues ABLE BC is advocating for and our progress on key policy priorities

  • Learn about ABLE BC benefit programs

  • Connect with other licensees and ABLE BC members in your area

  • Question and answer period with ABLE BC Executive Director, Jeff Guignard

We look forward to meeting you face-to-face to hear about the issues that matter most to you and your businesses!

Do you want to host an ABLE meeting in your city? Contact info@ablebc.ca! 

Come meet Jeff in:

HELPFUL LINKS

ABLE BC Resources

Visit our COVID-19 Resources page for Liquor Primary COVID Best Practices, template signage, recent policy changes, and more.

READ MORE

Public Health Orders

Visit this page to download all current regional and provincial public health orders.

VISIT PAGE

BC's Restart Plan

Visit the BC Government website for more information on the four-step

Restart Plan.

READ MORE

go2HR Resources

Visit the go2HR website for COVID-19 FAQ for Employers, HR information and updates, and more.

READ MORE

Reminder: SEP Holders are Permitted to Purchase from Private Liquor Stores

We’ve heard from members there is some confusion about who is able to sell liquor to Special Event Permit (SEP) holders. To clarify, private liquor stores are now permitted to sell liquor to SEP holders. Liquor Primary and Food Primary establishments are not. 

Because of the advocacy work of ABLE and our industry partners, the LCRB issued policy directive 21-15 in July 2021 authorizing Licensee Retail Stores (LRS) and Wine Stores (WS) to sell liquor products to SEP holders. 

The new policy states SEP holders may purchase liquor for their event from:

  • Licensee Retail Stores

  • Wine Stores

  • Special Wine Stores

  • Rural Licensee Retail Stores

  • Government liquor stores

  • Manufacturers with an onsite store

SEP holders may not purchase liquor for their event from:

  • Liquor Primary or Food Primary establishments

  • Agents

  • UBrew and/or UVin stores

  • Manufacturers without an onsite store

According to Section 8 of the Liquor Policy Manual, catered events do not require an SEP. Catering licensees must purchase their liquor from a Liquor Distribution Branch liquor store or other outlet designated by the general manager or the LDB. See page 19 of the Catering Liquor Licence Terms & Conditions for more information.

Liabilities Related to Workplace Vaccination Policies

A few members have reached out recently with liability concerns over employees who have been dismissed due to non-compliance with vaccination policies. 

We reached out to Ryan Anderson at Matthews, Dinsdale & Clark for more information and guidance around this issue. Ryan, and his colleague Christian Rocca, have put together this article:

“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many workplaces introduced mandatory vaccination policies. Non-compliant employees have, in many cases, found themselves held out of work, without pay. Others have been disciplined or even dismissed. Many employers are asking – what sort of liabilities might be triggered by imposing employment consequences for non-compliance with a workplace vaccination policy? 

The British Columbia courts have not yet released any decisions that provide reliable guidance on this matter. This is not surprising, as the litigation process moves slowly and most disputes settle out of court. However, there have been a number of grievance arbitration decisions, in BC and across Canada, that address the reasonableness of vaccination policies in unionized workplaces. These decisions are instructive for non-union employers, as they illustrate that the clear majority of adjudicators are supportive of mandatory vaccination policies, including policies that prescribe employment consequences in the event of non-compliance. 

The reasonableness of any policy is necessarily addressed on a case-by-case basis, and outcomes will always turn on the specific facts and circumstances of each case. Nevertheless, there are some key takeaways from these decisions for non-union employers:

  • As noted, most adjudicators have been supportive of mandatory workplace vaccination policies. That said, adjudicators are mindful that the circumstances surrounding the pandemic continue to change, which may affect the reasonableness of safety measures – what might have been deemed reasonable at the height of COVID-19 case-counts may no longer be reasonable as we begin (hopefully) to put the pandemic in our rear-view mirror.

  • That said, the most recent decisions illustrate that adjudicators continue to view mandatory vaccination policies as reasonable, even in light of the recent loosening of public health restrictions in multiple provinces.

  • The consequences prescribed by a policy for non-compliance continues to be at issue in many cases. Policies that impose more severe consequences (e.g. termination) certainly attract more scrutiny. For example, in one very recent B.C. case, the adjudicator found that, given the current state of the pandemic and the fact that the employer had achieved its health and safety goal of having only vaccinated employees in the workplace, imposing discipline beyond continued unpaid leave for non-compliant employees was inappropriate.

As the COVID-19 vaccination policy case law is still in its infancy, employers should be mindful of new decisions being released and possible changes in the law over the coming months. We will keep you posted!”

If you are concerned about liability regarding vaccination policies, please reach out to info@ablebc.ca.

Canada Recovery Hiring Program (CRHP) Apply by May 7

Employers who continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic may be eligible to apply for a subsidy to cover part of their wages as they hire new employees or increase existing employees’ wages or hours. 

Apply now for the Canada Recovery Hiring Program (CRHP). This program expires on May 7, 2022, but the government will accept retroactive applications. 

Hiring Foreign Workers Webinar with Alison Langford May 11

On Wednesday, May 11 at 10:00 am we will be hosting a webinar with Alison Langford, Workforce Strategist for the BC Hotel Association (BCHA) on hiring foreign workers. Alison will walk us through the options for hiring Temporary Foreign Workers, Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIA), and other foreign labour issues.

If you have specific questions about hiring foreign workers, please submit them here.

  • Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2022

  • Time: 10:00 am to 11:00 am

  • Location: Zoom

Please RSVP by Monday, May 9, 2022 to Ann Brydle, Manager of Membership and Communication at ann@ablebc.ca or by clicking here.

Hiring Foreign Workers Webinar RSVP

go2HR Launches HR Toolkit for Vancouver, Coast & Mountains Region

Vancouver, Coast & Mountains (VCM) employers have expressed a need for help with their HR best practices. To help address this need, Cindy Conti, go2HR’s HR Consultant for the VCM region has developed an HR toolkit of resources.

The toolkit has downloadable and customizable resources that can help in the following areas of HR:

  • Recruitment

  • Onboarding

  • On the Job

  • Departure 

The toolkit was developed to help support industry recovery in the VCM region as outlined in the Labour Market Tactical Action Plan. The Labour Market Tactical Action Plan and VCM HR Consultant is a partnership between DBC and go2HR.

Access the toolkit here.

Questions? Contact Cindy at cconti@go2hr.ca

Join the Quarterly Pour Editorial Committee

The Quarterly Pour is the BC private liquor industry’s source of trends and leading-edge news. The publication is the official magazine of ABLE BC, distributed quarterly to every licensee in the province.

Ann Brydle