'This is absolutely inequitable, and not what we asked': Ontario residents, medical experts respond to provincial paid sick leave program
After more than a year since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario government has announced a temporary paid sick leave program that would allow workers to receive three paid sick days.
Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, will introduce legislation that would require employers to pay up to $200 a day for up to three days for employees who have to miss work due to COVID-19, including testing, isolating or receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. This will be retroactive to April 19, effective until Sept. 25, and will be administered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
Back in 2018, the Ford government eliminated the province's guaranteed two paid sick days.
People in Ontario, including medical professionals, took to social media to comment on Wednesday's announcement. Many believe more paid sick days are required for essential workers.
The Ontario government just announced a #PaidSickDays program that offers 3 days for a virus that requires people to isolate for a minimum of 10 days.
The cognitive dissonance is maddening.— Naheed Dosani (@NaheedD) April 28, 2021
Dear @fordnation,
This is absolutely inequitable, and not what we asked. See below what we've asked and please amend:#PaidSickDays should be:
✅ Universal (employer delivered)
✅ Permanent
✅ 10 days minimum— Birgit Umaigba RN, BScN, MEd, CCRN 🇳🇬 🇨🇦 (@birgitomo) April 28, 2021
Disappointed again w/ @ONgov's latest attempt at #PaidSickDays:
- Max 3 days. Not enough time to quarantine, test, vaccinate.
- Relies heavily on problematic fed CRSB...and feds haven't even agreed to this yet!
- Goes thru WSIB, which is even more bureaucratic than CRSB. 1/2— Dr. Kamila Premji (@PremjiKamila) April 28, 2021
Went through the details of the Ontario #COVID19 Worker Income Protection Benefit.
❌Adequate: 3 days off only, workers need 10 to isolate.
❌ Universal: Temp workers are often misclassified as “contract workers”.
❌ Permanent
No more half measures. Legislate #PaidSickDays.— Gaibrie Stephen (@SGaibrie) April 28, 2021
Others expressed their disappointment that it took the provincial government this long to actually bring forward a paid sick leave program, particularly when the isolation period for any possible COVID-19 exposure or risk is either 10 or 14 days.
How many lives would have been saved if #PaidSickDays were announced April 28, 2020 instead of April 28, 2021. The unbearable question. https://t.co/KNmQHOa2v8
— Louis Century (@LouisCentury) April 28, 2021
3 days of #PaidSickDays no note required Doug Ford finally approves sick days for workers in Ontario. It's a start, a late one, but still a start https://t.co/0KI2qOlXuJ
— Lilian Nattel (@LilianNattel) April 28, 2021
3... days...
They took longer than 3 days to come up with this sad excuse for #PaidSickDays.— Kai Ip Wong (@kaiipwong) April 28, 2021
In a rage listening to @fordnation on #PaidSickDays. We're over 400 days into a state of emergency & we see the province letting corporations off the hook AGAIN. A disgrace on the day of mourning honouring workers who've lost their lives to injustice. #onpoli #FordMustResign
— Maya Menezes (@MayaLillianM) April 28, 2021
This program is pretty good for anyone who doesn't get covid, sick or has seasonal allergies. If you do three days is no where near enough unless you get over covid in 3 days....#PaidSickDays #onpoli #PaidSickLeave #FordMustResign #CRSB #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/59VWDHsQ7e
— Ernst Stavro Blofeld (@Wheretonext11) April 28, 2021
The Ontario government to the working people of Ontario:#onpoli #PaidSickLeave #PaidSickDays pic.twitter.com/DAK2OMgjni
— Dr Vicky Forster (@vickyyyf) April 28, 2021
When McNaughton was asked about why the program only includes three paid sick days, he said there shouldn't be a significant burden on small businesses.
"We’ve seen, especially in the last couple of weeks, pieces of legislation coming forward at Queen's Park for 10 days of paid sick days, 14 days of paid sick days, but those pieces of legislation squarely put the burden on the backs of small businesses," he said.
"We have to give small businesses a fighting chance to survive COVID-19, to grow and prosper when we come through this, and more importantly we need workers to have jobs to go back to when we get through this wave."
In the year it took the Ford govt to capitulate on #PaidSickDays, 455,000 people were infected and nearly 8,000 died of COVID-19. This comes far too late.
Too late to stop COVID-19 from getting out of control, and too late for workers who already got sick. 1/ #onpoli— Andrea Horwath (@AndreaHorwath) April 28, 2021
Following the announcement, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told reporters that three days "will not cut it" and workers still will not have the financial security to stay home.
"They will be left making pretty much the same kind of calculation that they’re being forced to make now," Horwath said.
The Ontario government has also offered to fund a doubling of the federal Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), increasing payment from $500 to $1,000 per week, for up to four weeks.
In Wednesday's press conference, McNaughton continued to say that Ontario is "leading" Canada when it comes to the introduction of a paid sick leave program.
Their comparison to other provinces doesn’t make me feel any better about this announcement - having the “most generous program in the country” doesn’t make it a good program, it just further proves that everyone in this country needs a full 2 weeks of #PaidSickDays #onpoli https://t.co/p7QoOtb74T
— Momina (@momina_h) April 28, 2021
Quebec and Prince Edward Island are currently the only other provinces that have mandated paid sick days. P.E.I. provides one paid sick day if employees have worked with the same company for five years and Quebec provides two paid sick days after three continuous months of work.
