{"id":33016,"date":"2020-09-04T18:57:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T18:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/?p=33016"},"modified":"2023-12-04T20:26:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T20:26:57","slug":"breaking-ontario-government-extends-infectious-disease-emergency-leave-until-january-2-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/blog\/employment-contracts\/breaking-ontario-government-extends-infectious-disease-emergency-leave-until-january-2-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Ontario Government Extends Infectious Disease Emergency Leave Until January 2, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario government passed a regulation that changed some <em>Employment Standards Act, 2000<\/em> (\u201cESA\u201d) rules during the \u201cCOVID-19 period.\u201d <strong>The COVID-19 period defined in the regulation was scheduled to end on September 4, 2020. But the government has now extended the Infectious Disease Emergency Leave in Ontario to <\/strong><strong><u>January 2, 2021<\/u><\/strong><strong>.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During the new COVID-19 period from March 1, 2020, to January 2, 2021, a non-unionized employee whose employer has temporarily reduced or eliminated their hours of work for reasons related to COVID-19 is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deemed to be on an unpaid but job-protected Infectious Disease Emergency Leave;<\/li>\n<li><u>Not<\/u> considered to be laid off under the <em>ESA<\/em>, and none of their weeks off work (or with less work) count towards the deadline for a temporary layoff under the <em>ESA<\/em>; and<\/li>\n<li><u>Not<\/u> considered to be constructively dismissed under the ESA if their employer temporarily reduces or eliminates their hours of work or wages for reasons related to COVID-19. This means that employees will not be entitled to termination pay or severance pay under the <em>ESA <\/em>even if they experience a significant reduction or elimination of their hours of work or wages, so long as the reduction or elimination was for reasons related to COVID-19.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Beginning on <strong>January 3, 2021<\/strong>, after the COVID-19 period is scheduled to end,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Employees will no longer be <b>deemed to<\/b> be on Infectious Disease Emergency Leave in Ontario, regardless of whether they have returned to active work,<\/li>\n<li>The <em>ESA<\/em>&#8216;s regular rules and timelines for a temporary layoff resume. \u00a0This means that an employee\u2019s temporary layoff clock under to the <em>ESA<\/em> re-sets on\u00a0<strong>January 3, 2021<\/strong>, and<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<em>ESA<\/em>&#8216;s regular rules around\u00a0constructive dismissal\u00a0resume. \u00a0This means a significant reduction or elimination of an employee\u2019s hours of work or wages <u>can<\/u> constitute a constructive dismissal, entitling the employee to termination pay, and potentially severance pay under the <em>ESA<\/em>, even if the reduction or elimination was related to COVID-19.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<section data-id=\"195893f7\" data-element_type=\"section\">With years of experience in this ever-changing area of employment and labour law, we at Whitten &amp; Lublin are happy to provide insight and advice into your specific circumstances. If you\u2019re looking for employment lawyers and would like more information about what Whitten &amp; Lublin can do for you, please contact us\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/contact-us\/\">online<\/a> or by phone at (416) 640-2667 today.<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario government passed a regulation that changed some Employment Standards Act, 2000 (\u201cESA\u201d) rules during the \u201cCOVID-19 period.\u201d The COVID-19 period defined &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/blog\/employment-contracts\/breaking-ontario-government-extends-infectious-disease-emergency-leave-until-january-2-2021\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":240929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1043,1036,74,225,1048,1052,257,1053,1054,703],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.6 (Yoast SEO v22.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Infectious Disease Emergency Leave in Ontario Extended Until Jan 2&#039; 21<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"COVID-19 Updates: The government extended the Infectious Disease Emergency Leave in Ontario until January 2, 2021. What does it mean for employees?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/blog\/employment-contracts\/breaking-ontario-government-extends-infectious-disease-emergency-leave-until-january-2-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking: Ontario Government Extends Infectious Disease Emergency Leave Until January 2, 2021\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"COVID-19 Updates: The government extended the Infectious Disease Emergency Leave in Ontario until January 2, 2021. 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