COVID-19 Update March 18 2020

As a company, you have done the right thing to help protect your employees from potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus.  Most likely, you have put a policy in place that states that employees may not come in to work if they are feeling ill. Your policy also states that they may not come into work if they have someone in their household who is feeling ill.  You have noted that they can’t come to work for 14 days if they have been exposed to the virus or have the virus.  Finally, your policy also states that if they or any family member has been out of the country, they must isolate for 14 days and not come to work during that time.  These have been great steps at protecting your employees.   BUT…employees are not listening. 

Many of our clients have been frustrated at the number of employees ignoring these policies and coming to work ill or after exposure.  We believe this is mainly due to the employee feeling extreme pressure financially to keep working.  People are afraid of losing their home or not being able to pay their bills – or both.  We must police this situation closely and send employees home. 

Today, we have heard the announcement of banks providing mortgage relief.  The Prime Minister has announced an increase in the Child Benefit Amount, a supplement GST credit to lower income families, EI for those who do not qualify and Emergency Care benefits.  As well, those individuals owing income tax will have until August 2020 to pay. We hope that employees will now feel some release of pressure and that this will directly impact their decision to respect their workplace policies and minimize risk to others.

Some additional information on the above:

Emergency Care Benefit:

Introducing the Emergency Care Benefit providing up to $900 bi-weekly, for up to 15 weeks. This flat-payment Benefit would be administered through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and provide income support to: 

• Workers, including the self-employed, who are quarantined or sick with COVID-19 but do not qualify for EI sickness benefits. 

• Workers, including the self-employed, who are taking care of a family member who is sick with COVID-19, such as an elderly parent, but do not quality for EI sickness benefits. 

• Parents with children who require care or supervision due to school closures, and are unable to earn employment income, irrespective of whether they qualify for EI or not. 

The Application for the Emergency Care Benefit will be available in April 2020 and requires Canadians to attest that they meet the eligibility requirements.  If looking to apply, they can do so: 
 1. Via their CRA MyAccount secure portal; 
2. Via their secure My Service Canada Account; or 
3. by calling a toll-free number equipped with an automated application process. 

Longer-Term Income Support for Workers 

For Canadians who lose their jobs or face reduced hours as a result of the impact of COVID-19 impact, the government is: 

• Introducing an Emergency Support Benefit delivered through the CRA to provide up to five billion dollars in support to workers who are not eligible for EI and who are facing unemployment. 

• Implementing the EI Work Sharing Program, which provides EI benefits to workers who agree to reduce their normal working hour as a result of developments beyond the control of their employers, by extending the eligibility of such agreements to 76 weeks, easing eligibility requirements, and streamlining the application process. This was announced by the Prime Minister on March 11, 2020. 

We will continue to wait for additional measures like rent relief.

The Federal Government is proposing to provide eligible small employers with a temporary wage subsidy for 3 months to be able to support businesses that are facing revenue losses and to help prevent layoffs.  The subsidy amount will be 10% of the employee salary paid during that period up to $1,375 as a maximum per employee.  There is a cap to this subsidy of $25,000.  Our understanding is that businesses can benefit immediately from this by reducing their remittances of income tax withheld on their employee’s salary.  If you are eligible for this small business deduction, this will help somewhat.

Here is a link to more information and more information on what is noted above.

Let’s do what we can to continue to protect our people and our businesses.

As always, reach out if we can help. www.1stophrconsulting.com info@1stophrconsulting.com