In response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19
crisis, the Government of Canada has created two programs to
provide income support for affected workers. The Canada Emergency
Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy
(CEWS) will play critical roles in supporting Canadian workers in
the weeks and months to come. Employers facing significant declines
in revenue are looking to the CEWS program, in particular, to allow
them to continue to pay employees even when their workplaces are
shuttered.
Following the April 11 passage of Bill C-14, which established the
CEWS, the Stikeman Elliott Employment and Labour group has
published detailed FAQs on the
CERB and
CEWS programs. These documents are designed to help
employers understand how these initiatives could help them and
their workers weather the COVID-19 storm.
