The Ontario government has amended Regulation 228/20 made under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 ("ESA") to extend the COVID-19 Period for Infectious Disease Emergency Leave from January 2, 2021 to July 3, 2021. Further information about the Infectious Disease Emergency Leave is available in our blog here.
The Ontario government has also created an industry specific regulation, Regulation 764/20, which applies to the hospitality, tourism, and convention and trade show industries. Regulation 764/20 permits employers and unions, if they both agree, to follow the rules set out in the regulation instead of subsection 67 (3) to (5) and (7) to (9) of the ESA. Specifically, the regulation permits a union to elect to retain the right to be recalled on behalf of some or all of its employees, with certain exceptions, which would delay employees' rights to termination or severance pay until the right to be recalled has expired.
Effective July 4, 2021, the regular rules around constructive dismissal and temporary layoffs under the ESA will resume. As such, the temporary layoff clock will reset on July 4, 2021.
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