The federal government has introduced Bill C-2, An Act
relating to the economic recovery in response to COVID-19
(“Bill C-2”), in which it is proposing
a series of amendments to the Canada Labour Code
(“CLC”) that are meant to
ensure that federally-regulated employees may continue to take
leave related to COVID-19 until September 25, 2021.
Bill C-2 also introduces the Canada Recovery Benefits
Act (the “CRBA”), which
proposes three new temporary benefits to provide compensation to
eligible employees that fail to qualify for Employment
Insurance.
Job-protected Leave
Bill C-2 amends the CLC to revise the reasons for which
an employee is entitled to leave due to COVID-19. The proposed
legislation would replace section 239.01(1) of the CLC,
which currently provides that employees are entitled to leave of up
to 16 weeks if they are unable or unavailable to work for reasons
related to COVID-19.
