On June 12, 2020, legislation was passed temporarily amending
the Labour Standards Act (the "Act") to extend
the period of temporary layoff contemplated in the Act.
Background
Previously, under section 49 of the Act, an employee on
temporary layoff for a period exceeding 13 weeks over a consecutive
20 week period would be considered to have had their employment
terminated. With this recent amendment, the period of time before
an employee's employment is considered to be terminated has
doubled, from 13 weeks to 26 weeks over a consecutive 33 week
period. The legislation creates a window from March 18, 2020 to
September 18, 2020 during which any temporary layoff can be
extended for up to 26 weeks over a consecutive 33 weeks before such
lay off is deemed to be a termination of employment. Importantly it
can be applied to employees already on temporary layoff.
