Alberta Record

· Bill / New Legal Framework · enacted

Bill 38 — Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act: Legal Standing of Unincorporated Associations

This bill creates a new legal framework for instituting proceedings against unincorporated employers' organizations, occupational associations, and trade unions.

Moderate impactCivil libertiesThe public, directlyCourts

What changed

  • Amends Section 1 to add definitions for 'employers' organization,' 'occupational association,' 'person' (to include these organizations), and 'trade union' (Section 7(2)).
  • Adds new Section 34.1, allowing legal proceedings under the Act to be instituted against unincorporated employers' organizations, occupational associations, or trade unions in their own name (Section 7(3)).
  • Deems acts or omissions by directors, managers, officials, employees, or agents of these unincorporated organizations to be acts or omissions of the organization itself, if within the scope of authority (Section 7(3)).

Why it matters

  • Creates a new legal framework that alters the legal standing and liability of unincorporated trade unions and employer/occupational associations.
  • Facilitates legal action against these organizations as entities, rather than requiring proceedings against individual members.
  • May impact the operational and legal risk profiles of unincorporated associations within the skilled trades and apprenticeship sector.

Other governance concerns

  • Changes to legal standing and liability for unincorporated associations
  • Impact on the rights and responsibilities of trade unions and employer organizations

Primary sources (1)