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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has raised new issues relating to insurance and the home building industry. Following a total project suspension, construction has slowly resumed in Ontario, albeit with reduced crews and strained supply chains. These constraints raise increasingly important questions of whether delays can support extensions for home builders, and what impact home builders […]

In light of the ongoing pandemic, the Federal Government has extended the following COVID-19 supports: Employment Insurance The number of weeks of EI regular benefits available has been extended by up to 24 weeks to a maximum of 50 weeks for claims that are made between September 27, 2020, and September 25, 2021. Canada Recovery […]

On April 29, 2021, the COVID-19 Putting Workers First Act, 2021 (the “Act”) received Royal Assent in Ontario. The Act amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to require provincially-regulated employers in Ontario to provide employees with up to three days of paid leave for reasons related to COVID-19, including that the employee is: Employers will be […]

British Columbia continues to take steps toward relaxing COVID-19 workplace safety requirements and returning employees to the office, in keeping with recent trends among provincial governments in Canada. On March 11, 2022, the B.C. Provincial Health Officer lifted mandatory face-cover requirements in the workplace. These changes followed the lifting of other COVID-19 workplace safety requirements […]

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to the construction industry as a whole. Backlogs in supply, commodity pricing, local market disruption, and an increase in demand and labour costs, have all resulted in a significant rise in construction costs and sometimes construction disruptions.  These disruptions and rising construction costs are critical variables for […]

Manitoba recently joined a number of other provinces in implementing paid leave programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 7, 2021, Manitoba’s Premier announced that the province is launching a new Manitoba Pandemic Sick Leave program to fill in the gaps between federal paid leave programming and provincial employment standards for paid sick […]

The Alberta Government has passed legislation amending the Employment Standards Code to provide employees with up to three hours of paid, job-protected leave to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The amendment applies to all full-time and part-time employees regardless of length of employment. The amendment took effect on April 21, 2021. Alberta is the second Canadian […]

The Nova Scotia Government has announced a COVID-19 paid sick leave program that will launch on May 26, 2021. Under this program, employees who need to take time off work because of COVID-19 may qualify for up to four paid sick days, including those who need to take time off because they are: Eligible employees […]

On April 27, the BC government’s amendments to the Employment Standards Act were passed providing employees with up to three hours of paid leave to get each dose of their vaccine. The amendments are retroactive to April 19, 2021. Pursuant to the amendments, if requested by their employer, an employee must provide reasonably sufficient proof […]

As discussed in a previous communique, the BC Government amended the Employment Standards Regulation, BC Reg 396/95, to create an unpaid leave for employees who require leave to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or to assist a dependant who is being vaccinated against COVID-19. On April 19, 2021, the BC government introduced amendments to the Employment Standards […]