Local Issues Point at Vulnerabilities for Workers, Kids, and Tenants
Each month Spraggs Law publishes Vancouver Legal News, a curated selection of articles about legal issues being discussed in the news. This month we start off with a predicament that many Canadian workers face when deciding whether to take sick leave, precautionary warnings for parents, and recent loopholes and rent hikes affecting Vancouver renters.
Employees Without Sick Leave Are Inclined to Work, Even When They Shouldn’t
Lack of Paid Leave For Many Workers Asked to Stay Home
Before the pandemic, employees sometimes felt pressure to attend work despite feeling ill. The predicament compounded for employees without adequate sick pay. Now that many workers are tasked with taking “personal responsibility and staying home when sick,” advocates say that the government should be compensating all workers with paid sick leave if their employers don’t. Read more.
In the Spirit of Children and Youth Awareness Week (March 8-14)
10-Year-Old Assaulted in Vancouver
She and her family just moved to Vancouver from Mexico. They didn’t expect their 10-year-old daughter to be the victim of a violent assault and robbery when she set out on Saturday morning to retrieve breakfast for her family. Read more.
Warning for Tri-City Parents
Youth advocates are asking Tri-City parents to take precautionary measures to protect their children from the growing threat of online predators that are using more covert and clandestine tactics to lure children on video games and chat-based platforms that are popular amongst the youth. Read more.
Loopholes and Rising Costs Exposing Increased Vulnerability for Vancouver Renters
Vancouver Tenants Still at Risk of Renoviction
Recent changes to B.C.’s Tenancy Statutes Amendment Act, 2021, while extending the pandemic-related rent freeze, leaves loopholes open for landlords to use renovations as a means of evicting unwanted tenants. Read more.
Rent Hikes for Tenants of Privately-Owned SOP Buildings
Just when everyone is most vulnerable, tenants of Vancouver’s least desirable rentals (hotels/single-room occupancy buildings) see their rent increase by 9.8%. Read more.
Vancouver Rent Costs Straining Tenants and Rent Support Programs
As per the article, “more than half of Vancouver’s residents are renters,” and Despite CERB and other Federal and Provincial income support, a surge of Vancouverites are appealing to the Vancouver Rent Bank for loans and grants to help with rent. The Pandemic has revealed a growing segment of the “working poor” either employed or underemployed citizens strapped with Vancouver’s astronomical rent costs, forcing them to rely on rent support when other income supports fail to cover all necessary living expenses. Read more.
What Do You Think?
What do you think about these updates affecting Vancouver workers, parents, and tenants? If you have any questions about employment law, family law, or your rights as a tenant or landlord for the team at Spraggs, we’d love to hear from you. Contact one of our lawyers in Vancouver today.
