The Ontario government has announced that effective June 11 at 12:01 a.m., all regions of the province will enter Step 1 of its Roadmap to Reopen as the COVID-19 cases slowly begin to drop and the vaccination rates increase.
Industry: Social Services
Ontario Announces Further Extension of Temporary Relief from ESA Termination and Severance Provisions
Effective June 4, 2021, the Ontario government has extended the temporary relief measures from the termination and severance provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) until September 25, 2021. The temporary measures are found in Ontario Regulation 228/20, Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (IDEL Regulation), which has been amended to define the “COVID-19 period” as that period beginning on March 1, 2020 and ending on September 25, 2021.
Details about WSIB Reimbursement Process for Paid IDEL Now Available
On April 29, 2021, the Ontario government amended the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to provide paid infectious disease emergency leave (IDEL) for certain absences related to COVID-19. Employers who provide paid IDEL to eligible employees are entitled to reimbursement through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), up to $200 per employee per day taken….
Clarification: Interaction between Paid IDEL and Contractual Paid Leave
On May 3, 2021, we published an FTR Now providing an overview of the new paid infectious disease emergency leave (Paid IDEL) created by Bill 284, the COVID-19 Putting Workers First Act, 2021. In our publication, we addressed the interaction between the new Paid IDEL and contractual paid leave, and how the contractual entitlement would…
Ontario Enacts Legislation to Provide Paid Leave for Reasons Related to COVID-19
On April 29, 2021, the Ontario government tabled and passed Bill 284, COVID-19 Putting Workers First Act, 2021 (Bill). The Bill amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) to provide eligible employees with up to three days of paid emergency leave in circumstances of absences relating to a designated infectious disease (Paid IDEL). As readers…
Ontario Announces Paid Sick Leave for Reasons Related to COVID-19
On April 28, 2021, the Ontario government announced that it will be introducing legislation to provide up to three sick paid leave days to eligible employees if they are taken for reasons related to COVID-19. The program would be retroactive to April 19, 2021 and remain in effect until September 25, 2021, the date the…
Key Highlights of Federal Budget 2021
On April 19, 2021, the federal government tabled its 2021 Budget “A Recovery Plan For Jobs, Growth, And Resilience” (Budget). The Budget sets out a broad range of proposals stemming from the pandemic, such as an extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and an increase to the length of Employment Insurance (EI) sickness…
Proposed New PBGF Disclosure Requirements
On April 15, 2021, the Ontario government released draft amendments to Ontario Regulation 909 under the Pension Benefits Act (PBA), which provide new details of the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF) reporting requirements that will soon apply to registered pension plan administrators with Ontario members. In this FTR Now, we highlight the key details of…
Ontario Extends Stay-at-Home Order; Implements Further Restrictions
On April 16, 2021, the Ontario government extended the declared emergency made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) as well as the Stay-at-Home Order until May 5, 2021. Additional restrictions for the Rules for Areas in Stage 1 (Shutdown Zone), made under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020,…
Reaching Out – Fifteenth Edition
Dear Friends, We are back with another edition of Reaching Out. With 2020 behind us and some light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel, we thought it appropriate to reconnect with our Social Services clients with a Spring edition of Reaching Out. We chose not to publish Reaching Out last year as we…