Ontario extends paid sick leave program until end of year: Minister of Labour
Posted August 31, 2021 5:05 pm.
Ontario’s Worker Income Protection Benefit, which mandates three paid sick days, will be extended until the end of the year.
The program, which was initially set to expire on September 25, 2021, will now remain in place until December 31, 2021.
In a statement, Minister of Labour, Monte McNaughton, said the decision to extend the program comes in response to “new data showing the Delta variant is spreading faster and is more transmissible.”
“In addition to ensuring no one would lose their job due to COVID-19, in April, we introduced new measures to ensure that workers do not lose pay if they need to stay home for reasons related to the pandemic, such as self-isolating, going to get tested and waiting for results, or getting vaccinated,” McNaughton wrote.
“We are extending our COVID-19 paid sick leave program until December 31, 2021 to ensure that we continue to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible and protect workers sick from this virus.”
Our top priority remains the safety of Ontario’s workers.
That’s why we’re extending the Worker Income Protection Benefit to December 31, 2021.
Full statement below: pic.twitter.com/phUNwAAePS
— Monte McNaughton (@MonteMcNaughton) August 31, 2021
In April, the Doug Ford government announced the program, which requires employers to pay employees up to $200 per day for three days.
The program is available to full and part-time employees.
The province partnered with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) to deliver the program and reimburse employers.
