Skyrocketing COVID outbreaks have Ontario’s industry groups warming to paid sick leave

As pressure grows on the province to introduce a paid sick leave program for essential workers, Ontario’s industry groups appear to be warming to the idea — to an extent.

Since the pandemic began, calls for the province to mandate paid sick leave for essential workers have been met with resistance from businesses, many of whom fear that further financial obligations could hurt their bottom line at a time when money is already tight.

But in recent days, as workplace outbreaks skyrocket and calls for provincial intervention grow, the tone has shifted.

Dennis Darby, president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said it makes “total sense” for the province to invoke legislation mandating sick leave for employees.

“We have to make sure, as a society, that we’re providing support for essential workers right away,” Darby told the Star on Wednesday. “And to protect them, I think it’d be totally appropriate to legislate paid sick days.”

The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, which represents some 30,000 manufacturers in the province, came out swinging Tuesday as Toronto and Peel Region invoked orders that are poised to temporarily close businesses for 10 days that have five or more COVID-19 cases over a two-week period.

The move would have a “catastrophic” impact on the sector, Darby said on Tuesday, adding it puts the entire supply chain at risk.

However, regarding paid sick leave, he says legislation would be useful for both the employee and the employer. With mandated sick leave, where employees can stay home from work without sacrificing a pay cheque, the likelihood of causing workplace outbreaks plummets.

The support for a measure that experts have long touted as critical to public health is a somewhat unexpected twist from Ontario’s industry groups, which have often opposed measures that strain the financial stability of businesses.

John Mollenhauer, president of the Toronto Construction Association, says legislated paid sick leave would make sense if used properly.

“If they’re used to get somebody tested (for COVID-19), who would not otherwise be able to sneak away from work to get tested, then that’s a good thing,” said Mollenhauer. “But it really depends how it’s used. It can’t be abused.”

But the industry groups stop short of supporting calls for paid sick leave to come from employers. The funding for a sick leave plan should come entirely from the province, Mollenhauer says.

“This has to be a cost borne by the government, not the employer. Employers don’t have any money left, and they simply can’t afford to shoulder another cost,” he said.

The comments from industry groups come as the Ontario government scrambles to produce a sick leave program that would bolster federal efforts to prevent people from spreading COVID-19 at work. On Tuesday, Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said Ottawa’s failure to fix delays and accessibility issues with its program had created an opening for the province to step in, as soon as this week.

“Clearly there are gaps in the system,” McNaughton told reporters. “We saw what wasn’t in that budget and we’ll have their backs.”

The move comes after months of pressure from public health experts and workers’ rights advocates who say paid sick leave will contain the workplace spread of the virus.

David Macdonald, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said the government could potentially introduce a cost-sharing model that wrests some of the financial burden of paid sick leave from the employer.

“Maybe some of the paid sick days are covered by industry, and the rest is covered by the province,” said Macdonald.

“But remember, though, that COVID-19 has not necessarily been bad for every business — especially not for the industries that might be most affected by a paid sick leave program. Warehousing has done very well through the pandemic. So when we think about who should pay for these measures, it makes some sense that those who’ve done well during the pandemic can help cover the costs.”

Advocacy on paid sick leave has differed over who should pay employees. Larger companies have been called on to support employees without government aid, while some workers have called for small and medium-sized businesses to receive reimbursements from the government.

Ash MacNeil, a worker in Toronto’s restaurant industry, wants the province to compensate employers offering sick leave to employees. She’s seen firsthand that workers who do not get sick pay are far more likely to come to work sick and spread their illness to co-workers and customers.

“We want Doug Ford to subsidize the businesses that can’t afford sick leave,” she said. “Without that, many of them struggle to pay. And without that, we’re far more likely to come in sick. Myself personally, if I get sick, I lose a lot of income.”