The Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC) announced that news business must confirm, or revise, the number of employee hours it is claiming by February 19 2025.
The CJC says it is taking this step because it appears that some news businesses’ claims did not fully comply with the CJC’s policies due to misinterpretation or uncertainty. To ensure that your news business has complied fully, please carefully read the clarifications below:
- FTE Hour Calculation: Some applicants submitted 35 hours for each full-time equivalent (FTE), rather than reporting the total number of hours paid to employees for tasks directly related to the production of online news. If your news businesses did not report the total number of hours paid to employees who receive a T4 tax slip for tasks dedicated to the production of online news, please revise your response.
- Freelance Fees/Hours: News businesses are not permitted to submit claims for freelance journalists. Please note that only employee hours directly related to the production of online news should be included in your claim, and freelance costs must be excluded. Employee hours are hours worked by employees who receive a T4 tax slip. If your news business mistakenly included freelance hours in the number of hours submitted please revise your response.
- Analytics and Monitoring: In response to stakeholder feedback, CJC-CCJ removed these tasks from the list of tasks that qualify as original news production. Please review the list of tasks related to the production of online news found in our FTE Calculation and Payment Distribution Policy. If hours related to ineligible tasks were mistakenly included in your application, we kindly request that you resubmit the number of hours claimed with these hours removed.
To ensure compliance with CJC policies, we are asking all news businesses to confirm the number of employee hours they are claiming and if needed, revise their submissions by February 19, 2025.
Please note that all claims are subject to verification and auditing, and there are penalties for misrepresenting employee hours. We urge all news businesses to keep T4s on hand to support their claim.
If you do not confirm the number of employee hours by February 19, 2025, your news business will lose the right to revise your claim, and payments for your news business may be delayed until confirmation is received.
If you have questions, please contact [email protected].
(This post appeared on the News Media Canada website)
-30-
Recent Comments