The British Columbia government has put forward three proposed models for permanent paid sick leave in the province, asking residents to provide feedback on options for three paid days, five paid days, and 10 paid days.
In August, the government launched consultations to determine the minimum number of paid sick days it should mandate under the Employment Standards Act. Recent amendments to the Act will require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees with more than 90 consecutive days of employment, beginning January 1, 2022.
During a first phase of consultations (August 5, 2021 to September 14, 2021), the government surveyed employers and workers about the types of paid illness and injury leave currently provided and whether they met workers’ needs. Using the data collected from the surveys, the government launched another survey (running from September 22, 2021 to October 25, 2021), asking for feedback on models that would require employers to provide at least three, five or 10 paid sick days per year, in addition to the three unpaid days already required under the Act.
Results from the phase one surveys found that approximately 50 percent of B.C. employees do not have any employer-paid sick days and that about 60 percent of employers do not offer paid sick days to their workers. Of those who do have employer-paid sick days, approximately 70 percent of employees said they typically do not use all of the paid days they get each year. Employers responding to the survey also indicated that most employees do not use all of their paid sick days in a year.
The phase-two survey on the proposed models put forward considerations for each of the options, showing how they would affect employees and employers. Three days of paid sick leave would address the needs identified by almost four out of ten employees in the phase-one consultations, but between one-quarter and one-half of employers indicated that three paid days would have a major impact on their operations.
The five-day option would meet the needs of about two-thirds of employees, but approximately half of the employers indicated that five days would have a major impact on their operations.
Survey documents stated that 10 days of paid sick leave would address the needs identified by over nine-tenths of employees, but approximately 90 percent of employers indicated that 10 employer paid sick days would have a major impact on their operations.
In November, the government is expected to provide an update on the feedback it received and set out the next steps for implementing paid sick leave. In November or December, it expects to create and finalize regulations for paid sick leave, ahead of the January 1, 2022 implementation date.
Once paid sick leave comes into effect, employers will be required pay employees their average days’ pay for each day of the leave. An average day's pay is the amount paid or payable to an employee for work done during and wages earned within 30 calendar days before the leave, divided by the number of hours the employee worked or earned wages in that 30-day period. Employers will have to include any vacation pay paid or payable for vacation taken during the 30-day period. Overtime pay will be excluded. Regulations under the Act could set out other payment methods.
Employment Standards rules currently require employers to pay employees for up to three days of sick leave related to COVID-19. This requirement remains in effect until December 31, 2021. For more information, see 15.6.13, COVID-19-related Leave.
For more information on the consultation, see https://engage.gov.bc.ca/paidsickleave/.
We will continue to monitor this story and will report on further developments in upcoming releases.