Government of Ontario, Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development – Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit

ByMaurice

Description:

As of April 19, 2021, employers are eligible for reimbursement of paid infectious disease emergency leave. Employers may be eligible to be reimbursed for payment up to a maximum of $200 per day for up to three (3) days per employee, made to an employee for paid infectious disease emergency leave taken under subsection 50.1.1(1.2) of the Employment Standards Act (ESA).

Comments on Funding:

Eligible employers are entitled to be reimbursed the amount of infectious disease emergency leave pay that they paid to their employees, up to $200 per employee per day taken.

Eligibility:

Employers are eligible for reimbursement of paid infectious disease emergency leave if any one of the following apply:

  • Employee used some paid leave in their employment contract before April 19, 2021 so that they didn’t have at least three days of paid leave remaining. In this situation, the amount of reimbursement an employer would be entitled to depends on the number of days the employee has remaining under the employment contract.
  • Employment contract provided less pay than the ESA entitlement (generally the wages the employees would have earned had they not taken the leave, up to $200).
  • Contract is more restrictive than the ESA. For example, an employee is sick with COVID-19 and their employment contract requires a doctor’s note for paid sick days. Under the ESA, an employee is not required to provide a doctor’s note for paid infectious disease emergency leave (IDEL). If the employee takes paid IDEL under the ESA, the employer would be eligible for reimbursement.

Other Things to Note:

  1. Employers can only apply to be reimbursed for a maximum of three calendar days, even if they chose not to count part days as full days of paid leave. For example, if an employee took a half day of paid leave on a Monday, two full days of paid leave on the Tuesday and Wednesday and an additional half day on the Thursday, the employer can only apply for reimbursement of three of these days.
  2. An employer is not entitled to be reimbursed for payments made to an employee for paid infectious disease emergency leave under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) if either:
  • the employee received WSIB benefits for the same days of leave, 
  • he employer cancelled or rescinded the paid leave offered to their employees as part of an employment contract on, or after, April 19, 2021. In other words, an employer cannot cancel their employee’s contractual entitlement to paid leave in order to take advantage of the COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit.

About the author

Maurice

Maurice (Moe) Muise learned the ins-and-outs of government while an employee of the Government of Canada in Ottawa for 10 years. His current focus is helping small businesses in Ontario to identify and maximize government grants to grow their business. Click here to learn more about Moe’s background and how he can help your business.

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