On July 21, 2022, Ontario filed Regulation 464/22, which amends O. Reg. 228/20: Infectious Disease Emergency Leave Regulation to extend the availability of Paid Infectious Disease Leave (Paid IDEL) until March 31, 2023. Prior to this extension, Paid IDEL was scheduled to expire on July 30, 2022.
Paid IDEL requires employers to provide employees up to three days' pay if they need to miss work for reasons related to COVID-19. Such reasons for leave include to get tested, to await the results of a COVID-19 test, while sick with COVID-19, to get individual medical treatment for mental health reasons relating to COVID-19, to get vaccinated, while experiencing side effects from a vaccination, to self-isolate, or to provide care or support to certain relatives for COVID-19-related reasons.
Employers must pay the employee the lesser of either $200 per day or a sum equal to: (i) the wages the employee would have earned had they not taken the leave; or (ii) if the employee receives performance-related wages, including commissions or a piece work rate, the greater of the employee's hourly rate, if any, and the minimum wage that would have applied to the employee for the number of hours the employee would have worked had they not taken the leave.
Eligible employers may apply for a reimbursement of payments from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), up to a maximum of $200 for up to three (3) days per employee. This program has been extended to March 31, 2023. At Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit, Ontario provides detailed information about employer reimbursement for paid leave, as well as a link through which employers can submit a claim to the WSIB to be reimbursed.
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