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Ontario Announces Deadline for Employers to Apply for Paid IDEL Reimbursement
Date: May 2, 2023
As we reported previously, paid infectious disease emergency leave (Paid IDEL) ended on March 31, 2023. On April 28, 2023, the Ontario government updated its guidelines regarding when eligible employers can apply for reimbursement payments.
Employers seeking a reimbursement for Paid IDEL payments from the government must apply to the Workplace Safety Insurance Board the earlier of July 29, 2023 or within 120 days of the date the employer paid the employee. Reimbursements reflect the amount of IDEL pay paid to employees, up to $200.00 per employee per day for up to three days.
We again remind employers that employees will continue to be able to access unpaid IDEL where the employee will not be performing work for one or more of the following reasons in relation to COVID-19:
- The employee is under individual medical investigation, supervision or treatment.
- The employee is subject to an order of a medical officer of health or a court under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
- The employee is in quarantine or isolation or is subject to a control measure, including self-isolation, that is undertaken because of information or directions issued by a public health official, qualified health practitioner, Telehealth Ontario, the government of Ontario or Canada, a municipal council or a board of health.
- The employer directs the employee to stay at home because of concerns that the employee might expose other individuals in the workplace to the designated infectious disease.
- The employee is providing care to a specified family member, including because of closures of schools and daycares.
- The employee is directly affected by travel restrictions preventing the employee from returning to Ontario.
- Any prescribed reason.
Employers continue to be able to ask for “evidence reasonable in the circumstances,” “at a time reasonable in the circumstances,” to verify the unpaid IDEL but are prohibited from requiring employees to obtain medical certificates to justify the leave. All requests for unpaid IDEL should continue to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Should you have any questions about the end of Paid IDEL or the application of IDEL generally, please contact your regular Hicks Morley lawyer.
The article in this client update provides general information and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. This publication is copyrighted by Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP and may not be photocopied or reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the express permission of Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP. ©
