Opposition bill would provide Islanders with 10 paid sick days
CBC
P.E.I.'s Official Opposition brought forward a bill for debate in the legislature Thursday which would require employers provide ten paid sick days a year to workers — the most of any province in the country.
Currently, P.E.I. requires only one paid sick day per year, and that's only for employees who've been with the same employer for five years.
Under the Employment Standards Act, employees are entitled to three unpaid sick days per year after six months on the job.
Some provinces require no paid sick days. B.C. recently brought in legislation requiring five. The government of Doug Ford in Ontario now requires three.
With P.E.I. preparing to lift mandatory isolation requirements for COVID-19, the bill's sponsor Trish Altass said an expansion of paid sick leave in the province can't wait.
"We have so many Islanders right now who are struggling, who are living paycheque to paycheque, and they simply cannot afford to take a day off when they are sick if they're not getting paid," said Altass.
"We don't want Islanders going to work sick. It is bad for their health. It's bad for public health. And it's bad for our health-care system."
During debate, the province's Minister of Economic Development Bloyce Thompson told the house between 48 and 58 per cent of Island workers receive no paid sick days.
But he questioned the consultation process the Greens used to develop their bill, the math formula they included to calculate lost wages and the impact the change would have on businesses.
"I think we all can agree that this would be a significant cost to business," he said. "Business stakeholders who've reached out to me and have raised concerns about the cost of this program, particularly given they're facing the same inflation pressures and costs everyone is."
"I think we can all agree, minister, that this is already a significant cost to workers, who are the ones that are paying this currently," replied Altass.
"They are the ones that are missing out on pay or going to work sick."
Early in the pandemic, the province created a COVID-19 special leave fund to pay workers for time missed due to illness, the need to isolate or to care for family members.
Initial uptake in the program was low, but the province said Tuesday that of $2 million in funding available since the program was introduced, $1.4 had been allocated.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.