Health experts, teachers, and front-line workers across the province are banding together to sound the alarm about Canada’s lack of adequate paid sick days.
In a new report published by the Ontario-based organization Decent Work and Health Network (DWHN) on Aug. 19, health providers reveal how the country’s paid sick leave policy lags behind other global policies, leaving many demographics vulnerable, and how a lack of paid sick days jeopardizes public health, especially during a global pandemic.
The report titled “Before It’s Too Late: Health Experts, Teachers and Frontline Workers Sound the Alarm for Paid Sick Days” also addresses the federal government’s pan-Canadian sick leave program and how it is insufficient to address the country’s needs.
“The most recent data available shows that over half of workers in Canada don’t have access to paid sick days, and for those in low-income positions this number actually jumps to over 78 per cent,” said Carolina Jimenz, a registered nurse and co-ordinator for the DWHN, during a press conference.
“Workers who are denied paid sick days are actually the ones who need them the most. The people working in low-wage precarious jobs are disproportionately women, migrants, black, Indigenous, and racialized workers. Those who face precarious working conditions also face higher rates of COVID-19 and are more likely to become affected at work.”
Scott Florence, the executive director of the Sudbury Workers Centre, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of workers and working conditions, said that what’s true for the rest of the province is also true for the Sudbury region.
“We know that a vast number of workers here in the area do not have paid sick days, and we’re getting a lot of calls from people who are concerned about going back to work. We are really fortunate at the moment that we don’t have a particularly high case count of COVID-19, and we’ve not had high case counts all the way through, but as the province continues to reopen, just like this last batch of cases that came up, it doesn’t take much for a travel case to arrive in Sudbury, and boom, we’ve all got it,” he said.
“People are worried, and they don’t know what to do. They want to know if they are able to take time off work. Unfortunately, the reality is for most people, they aren’t protected, and they need to be to keep us all safe.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, “stay home when sick” has become an essential public health recommendation.
But the reality for many Canadians is that they simply cannot afford to do so – they must choose between staying home and protecting their community and going to work to be able to support their families and keep a roof over their heads.
Like any systemic issue, limited access to paid sick days has complex and far-reaching effects. Women, for example, tend to be the primary caregivers of both children and elderly relatives. Missing work to care for dependents often falls on their shoulders.
In addition, parents of school-aged children must now contend with school board policies that mandate any child who exhibits COVID-19 symptoms should be sent home immediately with a parent or guardian.
“There can be no safe return to school without paid sick days,” warned Sarah Vance, a high school teacher in Toronto.
“This new report reiterates what I already knew from experience: that parents without paid sick days are more likely to send sick kids to school. Reopening without paid sick days for all is a recipe for disaster that’s going to hurt low-income and racialized families the most.”
To protect against a possible second wave of COVID-19, and for a safe return to school this fall, the report recommends that at the very least, all Canadians should have seven paid sick days on a permanent basis and an additional 14 paid sick days during a public health crisis.
Sick days must also be fully paid, adequate to cover the average duration of common illnesses, available to all workers regardless of employment or immigration status or workplace size, and free from administrative barriers, like sick note requirements.
The DWHN would also like the government to prevent the introduction of any new barriers to accessing paid sick days and include personal sickness, injury or emergency as well as family emergencies and responsibilities in paid sick days to “reflect the reality of (people’s) lives.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s sick leave program, which would provide income support to workers without paid sick days, does not come close to meeting these recommendations, said the report.
The program would only provide workers with up to 10 days of paid sick leave only for situations related to COVID-19.
“There is no question that infections often spread quickly and easily in workplaces,” said Dr. Monika Dutt, a family physician and public health specialist from Nova Scotia.
“As you will see in the report, cities with paid sick days saw a 40 per cent reduction in influenza rates during flu waves compared to cities without. Unfortunately, the temporary sick leave program that was announced by the federal government is not the policy that will protect our patients. Paid sick days must be permanent and they must be absolutely universal.”
Kyle Hoskin, a municipal waste collector from the Niagara region, illustrated the dangers of going to work ill during the press conference on Wednesday.
“I got very sick last January, and I couldn’t stay home because I couldn’t afford to miss work. I ended up giving viral pneumonia to 35 of my coworkers, and they gave it to their families, essentially spreading the infection to 250 others,” he said.
“Myself and my coworkers come into contact with thousands of people’s waste and we don’t have a single paid sick day. It’s only a matter of time before COVID-19 hits us all and hits us hard. We needed paid sick days well before this pandemic and we’ll need them after it -- honestly, it could be a matter of life or death.”
Workers must be able to stay home at the first sign of illness, and if that illness ends up being related to something else other than COVID-19, they must be protected, said the report.
“There have been surveys that have been done recently and in the past that show that on overwhelming number of Ontarians are in favor of paid sick days. This is something that people want – they see a need for it, and they want it,” said Florence of the Sudbury Workers Centre.
“But the government has always been reticent about mandating and legislating paid sick days, especially because they get a bit of lobbying from big business, who of course, never want to do anything that might cut a tiny fraction off their bottom line. The cry is always that this is going to ruin the economy and that workers will take advantage of paid sick days.”
However, according to the report, workers tend to use much less than the full amount of sick days allotted to them, and in many cases, workers don’t use any at all. There is also evidence that giving workers paid sick days could strengthen the economy in addition to keeping the public safe.
“Workers don’t take advantage of this. They use sick days for exactly what they are designed to do: to ensure that they can stay home without having to make the difficult choice of do I pay my rent this month or do I go into work?” said Florence.
“People do what doctors ask them to do. They do what health officials want them to do. They stay home and stop the spread of disease.”
For more information or to read the full report, visit www.decentworkandhealth.org/beforetoolate.
Colleen Romaniuk is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter at the Sudbury Star. The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.
