CALGARY - Employees and business owners worried about upcoming changes to Alberta’s employment rules can relax because the changes will be “minor,” said the province’s Jobs Minister on Monday.

Thomas Lukaszuk, who earlier this year launched a comprehensive review of Alberta’s employment standards code, said he expects to unveil legislative or regulatory changes this fall. But he said these will be “minor tweaks,” not a major overhaul of the code which sets out minimum standards for hours of work, overtime, minimum wage, general holidays, special leaves, termination pay and more.

“There will be some changes, without a doubt. This piece of legislation hasn’t been reviewed for decades,” Lukaszuk said. “But I wouldn’t have any concerns, from an employer or employee side.”

Labour groups as well as business organizations reacted with suspicion when the government first announced plans to modernize its employment rules. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business expressed concern that the review could hurt small businesses by expanding unpaid leaves or by changing overtime rules, while the Alberta Federation of Labour questioned whether Lukaszuk would bring back “child labour” by opening a wider variety of job types to 12-to 14-year-olds.

On Monday, Lukaszuk said the review process so far has convinced him Alberta’s employment code is working well, for the most part. He said any changes will be aimed at updating the code with today’s values — for example, a legislative change is needed to eliminate a section permitting an employer to pay less than minimum wage to an employee with a disability.

Lukaszuk said he believes most current violations of the Alberta’s jobs code occur not because of malice, but because employers and employees don’t understand their rights and obligations. He said that’s why the government unveiled a new website Monday, workright.alberta.ca, that is meant to be a one-stop shop for Albertans looking for information about workplace safety and fairness rules.

Still, questions remain for those who first questioned the government’s motives in launching the review.

Richard Truscott, Alberta director for the CFIB, said the review came out of “left field” and left many of his organization’s members feeling “baffled.”

“There was no demand, from employers certainly, to review the employment standards in this province. So yeah, it definitely caught us by surprise and left us scratching our heads,” Truscott said.

Truscott added Monday he remains suspicious that the government may have instituted the review because of pressure from organized labour. But he said that with a Progressive Conservative leadership race underway, the government may now be fearful of making significant changes.

“I can’t imagine they would want to tackle anything controversial at this point. And some of the things they were looking at would obviously cause some consternation among many business owners,” he said. “I don’t think they’re really in a position to be picking fights right now.”

Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said there is a lot that needs to be done to protect workers in Alberta, including mandatory protections for farm workers and a major overhaul of the federal Temporary Foreign Worker program.

But he said he doesn’t believe the government has the appetite to make the changes that are necessary.

“There’s no doubt there are groups in our labour market that need better protection, but there’s nothing the Minister has put on the table that leads me to believe those groups or individuals are going to get a better deal as a result of this review,” McGowan said.

The public feedback portion of the employment code review asked Albertans to weigh in on everything from whether internships should be more tightly regulated to whether the province should institute unpaid job-protected leaves for employees who have donated an organ.

astephenson@calgaryherald.com