| Just in time for Labour Day, the province is extending an emergency measure which allows businesses to keep people on layoff notice until the January. The province announced the measure was being extended Sept. 4. Usually, an employer can put someone on temporary layoff for 13 weeks before they have to let the person go and pay out benefits. The province’s news release says offering the payouts could be the difference between a business surviving. For example, according to the province, a restaurant with 30 people employee could be hit will a bill as high as $100,000. “The Ontario government is helping protect jobs and businesses by extending protection to prevent temporary layoffs from automatically becoming permanent job losses,” says the statement released Sept. 4. “As our government continues to take the necessary steps to safely reopen the economy, we need to protect the businesses and employees impacted by COVID-19.,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development in a news release. “The cost of termination and severance pay can make it impossible for a business to survive and reopen. That’s why we acted to make sure businesses survive and workers have jobs to come back to.” While 99 per cent of Ontario businesses are now open, few in the service sector have recalled all the workers that were on the job before the COVID-19 pandemic. Ontario’s unemployment rate was 11.3 per cent in July. |
