Today we re making that choice a little bit easier.
Labour Minister Harry Bains introduced amendments Tuesday to the Employment Standards Act that he said would be effective until Dec. 31 and apply to anyone who shows COVID-19 symptoms, self-isolates or gets tested.
Employers will be required to pay workers their full wages and those without an existing sick leave program will be reimbursed by the government $200 per day for each worker.
WorkSafeBC, the provincial injury prevention and safety agency, will begin administering the program next month and employers will be required to cover the difference for those workers who earn more than $200 a day.
B.C. pledges to introduce permanent paid sick leave program in January
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Labour Minister Harry Bains arrives at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, June 26, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
VICTORIA – Workers affected by COVID-19 in British Columbia will qualify for up to three days of paid sick leave under proposed legislation that Premier John Horgan says will plug holes in a federal plan and lay the groundwork for a permanent program.
Horgan said Tuesday that the program would bridge the gap for workers between the time they first feel sick and when they can access the federal benefit, a pledge that some critics say doesn’t go far enough.
For the second year in a row, the province and WorkSafeBC marked the national Day of Mourning for workers killed, injured or made sick by their jobs with a sombre virtual ceremony, highlighted by a. . .
Worker fears getting COVID-19 without sick leave, wants B.C. to act
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British Columbia Premier John Horgan arrives before the budget speech in Victoria on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Horgan says the province is working on bringing in its own paid sick-leave program after the federal government didn t come up with a national program . THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
VANCOUVER – Avtar Badesha says he fears getting COVID-19 or being exposed to the virus because he couldn’t support his family without any paid sick leave during quarantine.
The 33-year-old power engineer in Vancouver’s education sector said his wife doesn’t work and they have a six-month-old baby so affording rent and groceries would be tough if he lost two weeks’ wages.
The province will also finish phasing out the lower wage for liquor servers, which critics have called sexist since it is mainly paid to women. Under the policy, critiqued in The Tyee’s Slaves to Tips series, servers could legally be paid $1.25 less an hour than other workers.
Both of those moves follow through on commitments the government made three years ago in response to recommendations from the government-appointed Fair Wages Commission.
At that time, Bains also announced an initial increase to the piece rate amounts paid to farm workers but said the government would need another six months for further study before mandating any more increases. On that timeline, the work would have been completed in the fall of 2018.