Late yesterday afternoon, September 3, 2020, the Ontario
Government unexpectedly
announced it is extending protection to prevent temporary
layoffs from automatically becoming terminations.
While unclear from the initial media release, the
Government's
website has been updated today to suggest that this extended
protection will come in the form of an amendment to the Infectious
Disease Emergency Leave Regulation (Regulation) which was
enacted under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) earlier this
summer. Our update on the Regulation, as it was originally
published, can be found
here.
The amended regulation has not yet been released. However, the
Government's website describes that the definition of
"COVID-19 Period" contained in the Regulation will be
amended such that it will now run from March 1, 2020 to
January 2, 2021.
