Ontario to give all workers three paid sick days, reimburse businesses

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TORONTO - Workers in Ontario will soon be able access three paid sick days to help them self-isolate during the pandemic, but critics said the policy announced Wednesday falls far short of what’s required to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Premier Doug Ford’s government had for months resisted intense pressure from health experts and advocates who said paid sick leave would reduce workplace outbreaks. The province only shifted its stance recently, after the federal government left a national sick-pay benefit unchanged in this month’s budget.

Labour Minister Monte McNaughton announced that a three-day sick leave policy – which will be administered through the Workplace Insurance and Safety Board – will be retroactive to April 19 and will end on Sept. 25. Employers will be reimbursed for up to $200 a day for what they pay out.

The program will be created through new legislation the government was to introduce Thursday.

“If passed, all workers will soon have access to three paid sick days,” McNaughton said. “This is a game changer.”

Critics were quick to note, however, that three paid sick days were far less than the 10 to 14 days health professionals recommend for a period of self-isolation due to COVID-19.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the government’s policy “simply will not cut it.”

“(Workers) will be left making pretty much the same kind of calculation that they’re being forced to make now, which is, ‘I’ve got the sniffles, I’m not feeling all that great ... but I have to go to work because I don’t have financial security to stay home,’” she said.

Horwath said her party needed to see the government’s legislation before deciding whether to support it but added that it appeared inferior to an NDP private member’s bill to introduce 10 paid sick days.

Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said he was shocked that after months of pressure, the three-day policy was all that the Ford government introduced.

He called on the the premier - who is in self-isolation after being exposed to a staff member with COVID-19 - to change the legislation to provide at least 10 paid sick days.

“I was hopeful that after the premier took taxpayer-funded paid sick days to isolate after a workplace exposure, he would have had a change of heart,” he said. “But Ford’s plan falls well short of providing the protection workers need.”

The CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario said the government’s sick-leave program will not be enough to prevent further illness and outbreaks, and will extend the third wave of the pandemic.

Doris Grinspun said employees will use the three days but could return to work sick.

“Three days is insufficient to stop it,” she said. “Therefore, we will continue with this for a couple of months at least.”

The scientific director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table agreed.

Dr. Peter Juni said that if an essential worker cashes in on one of the three sick days, they will “out” themselves as being symptomatic and could be forced to stay home for two weeks.