The Ontario government announced on December 7, 2021 that it will be extending the Worker Income Protection Benefit program, which provides three (3) paid infectious disease emergency leave days, until July 31, 2022. The purpose of such extension is to continue to keep workers safe and ensure they do not lose pay if they need to miss work for reasons related to COVID-19.
We wish to be clear that although paid infectious disease emergency leave has been extended into 2022, an employee’s entitlement to paid days does not reset in 2022. In other words, employees are not entitled to additional days specific to 2022. Employees are entitled to up to three (3) days total during the period in which paid infectious disease emergency leave is available.
Ontario first introduced these paid days in April 2021 as part of the COVID-19 Putting Workers First Act, 2021. As a reminder, provincially regulated employees (federally regulated employees do not qualify for these days) will be able to take these three days if they are:
- going for a COVID-19 test
- staying home awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test
- being sick with 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 authority
- taking care of a dependent who is:
- sick with COVID-19 or has symptoms of COVID-19
- self-isolating due to COVID-19
For more information regarding the Worker Income Protection Benefit program and how employers can be reimbursed, please refer to our previous alerts here.
If you have any questions regarding this program and your obligations as an employer, please do not hesitate to reach out to speak with an e2r™ Advisor.