Paid Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (IDEL) will (finally) expire on March 31, 2023. Paid IDEL provided employees with up to three paid days’ off if they missed work for certain reasons related to COVID-19.
You will recall that paid IDEL was extended on multiple occasions by the provincial government over the last two years. Barring another 11th hour extension, which we consider highly unlikely, it should expire Friday.
With that said, although paid IDEL will not be available after March 31st, as long as COVID-19 is designated an “infectious disease” by O. Reg. 228/20 (and it remains so), employees will continue to have the right to take unpaid IDEL if they are unable to work for reasons related to COVID-19.
There also remains no limit to the number of days an employee can be on unpaid IDEL to maintain this job-protected leave.
We will continue to keep you updated on any relevant HR developments in your workplace. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us if you need any information about these, or other HR matters.