New emergency leave available for Islanders unable to work during pandemic

A new emergency leave from work is now available on P.E.I. to those who can't work because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The legislationpassed third reading and received Royal Assent lastweek.

The unpaid leave offers increased job security and isavailable to anyone affected by an officially-declaredemergency by the Chief Public Health Officer.

It covers those who are in quarantine due to self-isolation or who tested positive to the coronavirus and are not allowed to work, or can't access child care..

Before this leave was introduced, there weretwo forms of leave available to Island employees: three days of unpaid sick leaveorfour days of unpaid leave plus one day of paid leave, and that was only available to employees who have been with the same employer for five years or more.

"Those leaves were not long enough to deal with the situation that was occurring," said Patricia McPhail, director of labour and industrial relations with the province.

"The alternative to a leave of absence was that employers would have to lay off their staff which is not necessarily in the best interests of all the parties. So this leave was to introduce another option for employers and employees to use."

The emergency leave does not apply to an employee with a personal emergency that is not part of a provincially-declared emergency.

Retroactive to start of pandemic

"I think it will ease the issues that are cropping up, particularly when it came to child care, because not all child care centres are at full capacity right now," said McPhail.

"So an employee who is unable to return to work because they don't have child care could utilize the emergency leave for that reason as well, because it's stemming from the direction of the chief public health officer."

McPhail says those who qualify for this leavewill ideally also qualify for compensation through the federal government's Canada Emergency Response Benefit or Employment Insurancebenefits.

The new leave is available retroactively to March 16 of this year, which is the date P.E.I.first declared a Public Health Emergency due to COVID-19. Itcan be used until the employee is able to return to work.

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