July 2nd, 2020
FACT CHECK: Under Ford’s rules migrant workers do not get paid if they take sick leave
QUEEN’S PARK — In today’s press conference, Doug Ford claimed that migrant workers in the agricultural sector had on the job protections and added “you will get paid” if found to have COVID-19 and need time away from work.
This is not true. Under the rules that Ford laid out, workers who are diagnosed with COVID must keep working to earn a paycheck. Under Ontario's new infectious disease emergency leave provisions, “employees have the right to take unpaid, job-protected infectious disease emergency leave if they are not performing the duties of their position because of specified reasons related to a designated infectious disease.”[1] That means a worker's job is protected while they take unpaid leave due to COVID-19 but they do not have a right to paid sick leave.
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