The province’s paid sick leave program is being extended until the end of the year.
Ontario’s Worker Income Protection Benefit, which mandates three paid sick days, was initially set to expire on September 25, 2021, but will now remain in place until December 31, 2021.
Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said yesterday that the decision was made to extend the program in response to “new data showing the Delta variant is spreading faster and is more transmissible.”
He said, “Since the start of this pandemic, we’ve said that we would have workers’ backs. In addition to ensuring no one would lose their job due to COVID-19, in April, we introduced new measures to ensure that workers do not lose pay if they need to stay home for reasons related to the pandemic, such as self-isolating, going to get tested and waiting for results, or getting vaccinated.
Our government’s COVID-19 paid sick leave program was scheduled to end on September 25, 2021. However, in response to new data showing the Delta variant is spreading faster and is more transmissible, we are extending our COVID-19 paid sick leave program until December 31, 2021 to ensure that we continue to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible and protect workers sick from this virus.
With the majority of people in Ontario now vaccinated, our province is in a better position than before, but we must continue to stay cautious and ensure we are taking all the steps necessary to protect the health and safety of everyone in Ontario.”
Paid infectious disease emergency leave is available for certain reasons related to , including:
- going for a covid 19 test
- staying home awaiting the results of a covid 19 test
- being sick with covid 19
- getting individual medical treatment for mental health reasons related to covid 19
- going to get vaccinated
- experiencing a side effect from a covid 19 vaccination
- having been advised to self-isolate due to covid 19 by an employer, medical practitioner or other specified authority
- providing care or support to certain relatives for covid 19 related reasons, such as when they are:
- sick with covid 19 or have symptoms of covid 19
- self-isolating due to covid 19 on the advice of a medical practitioner or other specified authority
Employers are generally required to pay employees the wages they would have earned had they not taken the leave, up to $200 a day for up to three days.
For more details on the program, please click here.
Our top priority remains the safety of Ontario’s workers.
That's why we're extending the Worker Income Protection Benefit to December 31, 2021.Full statement below: pic.twitter.com/phUNwAAePS
— Monte McNaughton (@MonteMcNaughton) August 31, 2021
Ontario is continuing to support healthy workplaces by extending the COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit program until December 31, 2021.https://t.co/soVmzif7pj pic.twitter.com/3mccqxAnhV
— Ontario At Work (@ONTatwork) August 31, 2021