On July 21, 2022, the Ontario government announced an extension of the COVID-19 paid sick days known as COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit to March 31, 2023.
This benefit was introduced in April 2021 and was set to expire on July 31, 2022.
The benefit requires employers to provide their employees up to three paid days of infectious disease emergency leave related to COVID-19. The leave can be applied to:
- Going for a COVID‑19 test
- Staying home awaiting the results of a COVID‑19 test
- Being sick with COVID‑19
- Getting individual medical treatment for mental health reasons related to COVID‑19
- Going to get vaccinated
The three paid sick days are in addition to an 'employee's existing rights to unpaid infectious disease emergency leave (IDEL).
More details on the infectious disease emergency leave are available here.