Today, the Government of Saskatchewan announced amendments to The Employment Standards Regulations that will extend job protection to employees looking to access the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and Caregiving Benefit.
The amendments include providing job protection for all employees:
- that are absent from work due to illness, self-isolating or have an underlying health condition which makes them susceptible to COVID-19; or are providing care to a child or disabled family member; and
- are in receipt of, or will be applying for the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit or the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit.
“The amendments ensure employees that are accessing the new federal recovery benefits will have jobs to return to after taking leave due to a COVID illness or caring for a family member,” Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan said in a release. “Ensuring Saskatchewan residents have access to the federal recovery benefits is important in keeping our province and families strong during the pandemic.”
Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Juanita Polegi said the announcement is a positive one for business.
"The most important resource a business has is a healthy work force," she told Yorkkton This Week. "These measures ensure that those employees who are ill can remain at home knowing that their job will be there when they recover.
"It also ensures that employees who are not well don’t feel pressured to be at work and risk infecting fellow staff members and customers and clients.
"I am confident that the well being of employees and customers or clients is the utmost concern of business owners and managers and they will, therefore, welcome these amendments."
The Saskatchewan Employment Act also provides unpaid job protection for employees who are absent from work due to their own illness or injury for either 12 days or 12 weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. To assist workers during the pandemic, the government also made an amendment to the Act in March 2020 that removed the requirement of a doctor’s note or certificate for employees, and the requirement for an employee to have worked 13 consecutive weeks with the employer prior to accessing sick leave. In addition, a new unpaid public health emergency leave was created.
