Premier Ford has introduced legislation that, if passed, will create a 27 week job-protected leave for workers with serious illnesses. Our concern is that the proposed leave will not protect many sick and injured workers who need to take time off to get better. It also will not protect workers who are suffering from short-term illnesses and need to take more than three days off work.
While Ford’s proposed long-term leave would apply to workers fighting cancer, it will not necessarily cover someone who has to take time off to recover from preventive surgery, or who is recovering from an injury. This is because it requires a medical practitioner to certify a worker is suffering from a “serious medical condition.” This term is likely to be interpreted differently by different healthcare providers.
The requirements to access Ford’s long-term leave are more difficult to meet than those to access Employment Insurance (EI) Sickness Benefits. This means a worker could qualify for EI sick benefits because their healthcare practitioner certifies they are unable to work, but that worker is denied job-protected leave because it is not considered a “serious medical condition.” This approach will leave ill and injured workers vulnerable to termination.
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Ford has also missed yet another opportunity to follow public health advice and implement employer-paid sick days. The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that access to short-term paid sick days is an essential public health policy. In addition to preventing the spread of infectious disease, paid sick days remove barriers to access preventive and primary care that stop health conditions from getting worse. Ontario should join the four other Canadian jurisdictions that have legislated employer-paid sick leaves. Ontario workers need at least 10 employer-paid sick days to soften the economic and public health impacts of illness.
What do we know about the proposed Job-Protected Serious Illness Leave?
Ontario’s 27 weeks of job-protected leave would match the Federal government’s expanded 26 weeks of Employment Insurance Benefits.
The Federal government extended the number of weeks workers could receive Employment Insurance (EI) Sickness Benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks starting from December 2022. This means the Ontario government’s newly proposed 27 week job-protected leave would match the length of the Federal EI Sickness benefits.
Therefore, if you are unable to work because of a serious illness, you could qualify for both:
1) EI Sickness Benefits for 26 weeks of 55% of your income after a 1 week waiting period
2) Job Protected leave of 27 weeks where you may return to your job after your leave ends
Does that mean that if I receive EI sick benefits, I will qualify for this job protected leave?
Not necessarily. We believe the Ontario government must ensure that qualifying for the 27 week long-term leave should be seamless and match the criteria to access EI Sickness Benefits.
However, from what we know, it seems that Ford’s proposed leave will not protect many sick and injured workers who need to take time off to get better.
EI Sickness Benefits only requires a medical certificate that states you are unable to work because of illness or injury. In contrast, Ontario’s new legislation asks the medical practitioner to certify the worker has a “serious medical condition.” This additional condition is more subjective and may be interpreted differently by different healthcare providers. Furthermore, it strips away more of workers’ privacy as it not only reveals that a worker is unable to work, but they are critically ill or have a serious medical condition.
In short, under this new legislation it would be possible to qualify for EI Sickness Benefits because your doctor states you are unable to work, but still fail to qualify for long-term leave. That means the Employment Standards Act does nothing to protect a worker from being fired, even while they are receiving EI sickness benefits!
But what if I am sick for less than a week? What protections do I have?
Unfortunately, Ontario only has 3 unpaid job-protected sick days each calendar year.
In contrast, workers in 4 Canadian jurisdictions have paid sick days:
– British Columbia provides 5 days,
– Quebec provides 2 days,
– Prince Edward Island provides up to 3 days, and
– Federally-regulated workers can get up to 10 days.
While EI Sickness Benefits are designed to help workers with unexpected medium- and long-term illnesses or injuries, workers also need short-term paid sick days. So while other Canadian jurisdictions have paid sick days, Ontario workers have zero after the Ontario government under Premier Ford took away the 2 paid sick days that Ontario workers had back in 2018.
Conclusion
Workers need seamless and adequate short and long term job-protected paid sick leave. So while the Ontario government is introducing legislation to provide job protected leave to match the number of weeks workers can be on leave while on EI Sickness Benefits, they should not also introduce requirements that are harder than EI Sickness Benefits.
Read our submission to the Ministry of Labour on what a long-term critical illness leave should look like.