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Proposed Bill Adds Paid Sick Days

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The provincial NDP want guaranteed paid sick days for workers to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

London West MPP Peggy Sattler is behind a proposed bill that she says is needed so that people can stay home when they’re sick.

She points out people who have been deemed essential face an “impossible choice” if they have COVID-19 symptoms.

“Because staying home to recover or care for their child means giving up their pay. It could mean not being able to make the rent, not being able to pay the bills, not being able to buy groceries,” she says.

The southern Ontario MPP claims low-wage workers aren’t able to follow public health advice meant to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“It is all too clear how dangerous it is when workers must lose their paycheque to stay home when they are sick,” Sattler says. “If they are coming down with the flu, they can’t afford to stay home in bed. If they go for a COVID-19 test, they can’t afford to wait at home for the results. And when going to work sick is the only option, it puts us all at risk.”

The Stay Home If You Are Sick Act would also remove the requirement for workers to provide a doctor’s note. Sattler says her motion would be better than the federal sick leave program because it wouldn’t require applying or proving you have lost income due to illness.

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Federal Bureaucrats Taking More Sick Days

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Federal government workers are being shown to take more sick days a year than workers in the private sector.

According to an analysis of Statistics Canada by a conservative think tank, the number of lost days in one year is the equivalent of having over 5,200 federal bureaucrats calling in sick on any given weekday.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says in 2018, federal government employees took an average of just over 12 sick days per year, compared to the national private sector average of almost seven days, a difference of 77%.