
Human Resources
Insurance and surety
- COVID-19 Risk Management: 5 key questions your organization needs to answer
- Property and Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19): Is My Business Covered?
- Is Disinfection Coverage Available for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Under Environmental Insurance Policies?
- Construction Industry Specific COVID-19 Claims and Coverage Implications
- Best Practices for Protecting Projects During a Prolonged Outage/Shutdown
Legal
Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP
- Construction companies should check contracts, insurance for relief from potential pandemic losses, published by Business in Vancouver, May 1, 2020
- Limiting Exposure from Exposure: Liability of Essential Service Providers in the Context of COVID-19
- Builders Liens during the COVID-19 Emergency – Protect your Lien Rights
- Frustrated by COVID-19: Recovering and Preventing Business Losses
- COVID-19: The exceptional right to renegotiate the terms of a contract in the absence of a force majeure
- Dispute management during COVID-19: Moving from litigation to arbitration
- Suspension of limitation periods and procedural timelines during COVID-19 in Canada
- COVID-19: Is your company insured for business interruptions?
- Contractual risks amid the COVID-19 outbreak
- Customs planning during COVID-19: CBSA updates
Canadian Construction Association
- Guidance, but modest comfort: The Competition Bureau’s statement on COVID-19–related competitor collaborations
- Business as usual under the BC Builders’ Lien Act – at least from April 15, 2020
Miller Thomson LLP Barristers & Solicitors
Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP
- Business is shut down. What happens with your lease now?
- COVID-19: Limitation of Liability for Essential Service Providers
- Electronic Signatures in a Time of Social Distancing
- Government of British Columbia Issues Order Suspending Limitation Periods
- The Repercussions of COVID-19 on the Execution of Construction Contracts
NEW: B.C. Government creates COVID-19 temporary layoff period
Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP
- New mandatory self-isolation requirement – Top 5 tips employers of workers under the temporary foreign worker program need to know
- Permissive disclosure of personal information in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis
- COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impacts on Canadian Immigration
- COVID-19: Labour + Employment Update (March 25, 2020)
- COVID-19 Legal Perspectives: Workplace issues (webinar)
- Canada emergency wage subsidy: Summary & practical guide for employers
- New COVID-19 wage subsidies for Canadian employers
- COVID-19 Legal Perspectives: Workplace issues (webinar)
- Employers and the COVID-19 Federal Emergency Response Act
- Employment and Labour webinar series: (COVID-19) – Legal update for Canadian employers
- COVID-19 and Canadian workplace law: What’s happened so far and what to do now
- Important considerations in challenging times for Canadian employers that provide workplace Group RRSPs
Miller Thomson LLP Barristers & Solicitors
- The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy at your fingertips
- Temporary layoff of employees: Tax obligations arising from contributions to a supplementary unemployment benefit plan
- Agreement with creditors: Beware
- Important clauses in construction contracts in light of COVID-19
- COVID-19 and Construction Contracts
- COVID-19 – Impact on environmental compliance and due diligence
- COVID-19 and Business Interruption Claims
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) insurance policy issues
Roper Greyell LLP
Miller Thomson LLP Barristers & Solicitors
- To delay or not? Extensions by the CRA and the Tax Court of Canada
- Temporary layoff of employees: Tax obligations arising from contributions to a supplementary unemployment benefit plan
- Rent deferral during pandemic may not reduce GST/HST payable on rent
- Rebates on invoices: how to deal with GST and QST?
Industry helping industry
- Salus Pro* is offering its safety management software free of charge during COVID-19
Our education, events and COVID-19 updates
- Where possible, VRCA has moved its classroom courses to an online format and is actively sourcing new online content. Click here for details.
- During this time, VRCA has needed to reschedule its networking events. Click here for details.
March 2020
- March 26 – The provincial government defined the construction industry as a non-health essential service provider in the context of COVID-19 response and recovery. As such, construction sites should remain open provided they follow the orders and guidance provided by the provincial health officer (PHO) to minimize the risks of COVID-19 transmission and illness. Read more.
- March 26 – VRCA hosted a call with members of its General Contractors Division to share pandemic response plans and best practice COVID-19 safety protocols for construction sites. Thank you to the member companies that made presentations and willingly agreed to share their plans and resources across VRCA’s three Divisions. The documents can be downloaded from VRCA’s COVID-19 Resources page.
- March 23 – In response to all governments’ increasing calls to limit non-essential interactions, VRCA decided to close its office effective 1 p.m. on Monday, March 23. In an email to member companies and their employees, Fiona Famulak, VRCA president, explained the impact this decision has on the purchase of CCDC seals, Commission of Oaths services (statutory declarations) and VRCA print/scan services. Read more.
- March 22 – The provincial government released additional safety guidance for construction companies to manage their sites during COVID-19. All companies in the industry must follow these requirements to ensure the utmost protection of their workers, their families and our communities. Read more.
- March 21 – The Canadian Construction Association issued a statement outlining how Canada’s construction industry is responding to COVID-19. The release included an urgent call for the Government of Canada to undertake several actions and provide additional information. Read more.
- March 18 – VRCA shared that it received clarification from the provincial health officer that her March 16, 2020 order regarding mass gatherings does not apply to industrial sites. The provincial government also confirmed that the reference to industrial sites includes construction sites. In addition to clarifying the earlier order, the provincial health officer also suggested several precautions to reduce the risk of spreading the virus on industrial sites, including: reducing the number of people on site; practicing social distancing by maintaining two metres separation between workers; and not congregating in break areas and lunch rooms. For now, this means construction sites remain open with additional health and safety precautions in place. Read more.
- March 17 – VRCA emailed its member companies and their employees to share that VRCA’s was office remaining open, however, minimally staffed to process essential business, including statutory declarations, and that the balance of VRCA’s staff will work remotely to minimize the risk of spreading the virus. Read more.
- March 13 – VRCA emailed its member companies and their employees to share the association’s plans for in-person events and education courses through April. Read more.
- March 12 – VRCA issued an email to member companies and their employees advising what the association is doing to help keep its visitors, guests and staff safe from risks associated with the COVID-19 virus. Read more.
Partner associations links
- Association of Consulting Engineering Companies British Columbia – website | COVID-19 resources
- BC Construction Association – website | COVID-19 resources
- BC Construction Safety Alliance – website
- BC Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association – website | COVID-19 resources
- BCCA Employee Benefit Trust – website | COVID-19 Crisis Relief Plan
- Canadian Construction Association – website | COVID-19 resources
- Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia – website | COVID-19 resources
- Construction Labour Relations Association of BC – website | COVID-19 resources
- Council of Construction Associations – website | COVID-19 resources
- Electrical Contractors Association of British Columbia – website | COVID-19 resources
- Homebuilders Association Vancouver – website | COVID-19 resources
- Independent Contractors and Businesses Association – website | COVID-19 resources
- Mechanical Contractors Association of British Columbia – website | COVID-19 resources
- Northern Regional Construction Association – website | COVID-19 resources
- Progressive Contractors Association of Canada – website | COVID-19 resources
- Roofing Contractors Association of British Columbia – website | COVID-19 resources
- Southern Interior Construction Association – website | COVID-19 resources
- Surety Association of Canada – website | COVID-19 resources
- Urban Development Institute – website | COVID-19 resources
- Vancouver Island Construction Association – website | COVID-19 resources