The provincial government has extended the paid infectious disease emergency leave aka paid sick leave to the end of the year.
The program, which legislates up to three paid sick days per employee, was set to run until Sept. 25, but it will now go until Dec. 31.
The program requires employers to provide employees with up to $200 of pay for up to three days if they have to miss work because of COVID-19. The government then reimburses employers through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
The Ontario government says that the reasoning behind the extension is due to the new data that has emerged about the quick spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
If you haven’t heard by now, the Ontario government quickly passed into law its new paid sick leave on April 29, 2021.
What does this mean to employers? Do employers actually now have to pay for sick days or does the government? How does this all work? Which employees are eligible?
At NSC, we’ve put together a brief FAQ paper on what employers need to know about paid sick leave in Ontario.
