May 11th marked new legislation that gives working people in BC up to three days of paid sick leave if they’re affected by COVID-19.
If someone is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and therefore has to self isolate while waiting for a result, then employers are required to pay workers their full wages.
Not all companies have a sick-leave program, so to combat this, the province is pledging to reimburse employers up to $200 per day through WorkSafeBC.
This program is expected to continue until the end of 2021.
This program was introduced in order to “bridge the gap” between workers and the federal programs already in place.
“Unfortunately the federal program has been difficult to access for workers. No one should have to make that difficult choice between staying home when they’re sick or going into work because they have an economic imperative to do so,” Premier John Horgan said.
Horgan also commented that only $400 million of the $2.6 billion allotted for the federal program has been distributed to the public.
“That doesn’t speak to the lack of need for the program, that speaks to inadequacy of the construction of that program. As long as we have COVID-19 in our communities, we want to make sure that workers, businesses and communities are safe.” he added.
BC government has also received criticism for this program saying that it’s not enough, and has been long overdue, now seemingly too late in the making. Critics also said that it is a band aid solution which caters to the “something is better than nothing” mentality.
“You have to kind of ask yourself how many COVID transmissions actually happened in the workplace because of the failure and delay of a government-funded sick leave program being made available,” said Greg Kyllo, BC Liberal labour critic.
B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said she’s surprised that the New Democrats “seem to be going for a bare minimum approach” more than a year into the pandemic.
BC government intends to roll out a permanent paid sickness and personal injury leave program next year, after this program ends. It isn’t clear at this time what and how much the new program will cover.