paid sick days in canada: a look at what's happening
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the pandemic has put the spotlight on paid sick days.
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the pandemic has thrown paid sick leave into the national spotlight as canada grapples with stemming the spread of covid-19. on friday, a sick-days deal between the federal ndp and liberals prevented the minority government, led by the liberals, from being forced to call an election.
here’s what we know so far:
paid sick leave
according to a march report from the canadian centre for policy alternatives, “only 38 per cent of illness or disability leave and 23 cent of family responsibility leave was paid by employers in 2019, compared to 72 per cent of vacation leave.” the six industries where workers were the least likely to get paid leave were: accommodation and food services; agriculture, construction; forestry and logging; business, building and other support services; and retail trade.
currently, the amount of sick days a worker can take off is set by the provinces and the rules differ from region to region.
at the beginning of the pandemic in march, the canadian labour congress (clc) called for the federal and provincial governments to work on a uniform sick leave policy, suggesting 14 days of paid sick time. it has been an issue the group has spent years advocating for.
spring promises
in may, prime minister justin trudeau said he would work with the provinces to secure 10 days of paid sick leave per year for all workers. during his then-daily press conferences, trudeau told reporters: “the government will continue discussions with the provinces without delay on ensuring that as we enter the recovery phase of the pandemic, every worker in canada who needs it has access to 10 days of paid sick leave a year.”
the clc applauded the move. “right now, it is incredibly important that any worker who has been exposed to covid-19 can self-quarantine without anxiety of lost wages,” said clc president hassan yussuff in a statement.
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ndp leader jagmeet singh called the announcement positive, but also told the house of commons, “we need to see the action as well. and we are hopeful though that action will be coming.”
three premiers also endorsed the national plan: b.c. premier john horgan, manitoba premier brian pallister, and yukon premier sandy silver.
however, the idea was not received without criticism, with some sharing concern over whether or not the costs of the plan will outweigh the benefits. lior samfiru, an employment lawyer, told global news that, while rumblings of instating the sick leave policy is coming from the federal government, it’s up to the provinces to implement, and even then, the cost burden will fall to employers. an ask that may be a bit onerous given the uncertainty presently plaguing the economy.
“it seems to me that with the current economic situations and businesses struggling, (trying) to impose another obligation like that on an employer could be problematic,” he says.
“safe restart agreement”
in late july, trudeau announced $19 billion in funding for a “safe restart agreement” with the provinces. a little over $1 billion of the package included a “temporary income support program” that will provide workers 10 days of paid sick leave related to covid-19.
throne speech negotiation
the ndp lent their support to the liberals’ throne speech on friday in part because of the paid sick leave plan. though temporary, singh says his party helped “broaden” the benefit and would fight to make it permament.
so far, no details have been released about how the plan will be implemented or what it will cost. intergovernmental affairs minister dominic leblanc told ctv news’ evan solomon, “it’s not only in the economic interest of the country to protect people who’ve lost income, but it’s in the public health interest of the country to have things like paid sick leave, like access to income replacement, so that people don’t feel a pressure to go to work when perhaps they may feel ill or it would be unsafe to do so.”
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