Find the full up-to-date information about what protocols your workplace must follow on the WorkSafeBC website.

• WorkSafe info for restaurants
• WorkSafe info for retail stores

Here are some things that are required:

• Your workplace must develop a COVID safety plan to reduce risk of COVID transmission. The plan must be posted at the worksite and should explain how your employer is protecting workers from COVID 19 exposure.
• Employers must include workers when creating their safety plans to make sure workers’ concerns are heard and accounted for.
• Your employer must also follow all relevant orders from the Provincial Health Officer. For example the health officer has ordered that restaurants, cafes, bars, etc. must not exceed 50% of their usual capacity of patrons at one time. Customer parties can’t be larger than 6 people, and tables must be at least 2 metres apart. The latest mandate for the restaurant, bar and hospitality industry can be found here.
• Employers must ensure that every worker performs a daily health check before entering the workplace
  

If you work in a retail store, your employer should limit the number of customers in the store, create an environment where customers can practice safe physical distancing of 2 metres (including distancing from you!)

• Customers with symptoms must stay away from the store. Of course, this is hard to enforce. Your employer can put up signs at the door communicating that customers with symptoms cannot enter.
• Employers should ask customers who arrive with cold, flu, or COVID-like symptoms to return home and use a delivery service instead.

• WorkSafe BC protects your right to refuse unsafe work where there is an undue hazard to the health and safety of the worker. An undue hazard is anything that carries “unwarranted” or “disproportionate” risk.
• You do not need to prove that something is an undue hazard, and only need to have “reasonable cause” to believe that it is;
• In order to be protected by the right to refuse unsafe work, you must first report the unsafe condition to their supervisor or employer, who is required to investigate and fix it immediately;
•  If your employer doesn’t solve the issue and you still think conditions are unsafe, you can tell them they are obligated to investigate the matter again in the presence of you and another worker. If you are unionized they must investigate with you and a union representative. If the matter remains unresolved, contact Worksafe at 1-888-621-7233. A prevention officer will come in to investigate. Your employer must not require you to perform unsafe work during this process.

• If you are unsure as to whether what you are experiencing constitutes an unsafe workplace, you can contact WorkSafe at 1-888-621-7233

It’s illegal for your employer to penalize you for raising a health or safety issue.  Find out exactly what actions are illegal here.

• If you are in this situation, you can file a Discriminatory Action complaint with WorkSafe.
• You will have to speak with a prevention officer, and then fill out a form about what took place. Then you should hear back within 48 hours.
• Common remedies include removing things from your record, paying back wages you lost, and giving you your job back.

If you have symptoms associated with COVID-19 you must self-isolate for 14 days and stay home from work. Symptoms include: sore throat, fever, sneezing, coughing, loss of sense of smell or taste, shortness of breath, headache, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.

Paid Sick Leave

• As of January 1st, 2022, under the B.C Employment Standards Act (ESA), employees can take up to 5 paid sick days per year for any personal illness or injury
• You must have worked for an employer for three months to be eligible for the paid sick leave
• Part-time, casual, or temporary employees covered by the ESA are eligible
• An employer can request reasonable sufficient proof of illness
• Paid sick days do not have to be taken consecutively

You can file a WorkSafe BC claim for COVID-19 virus infection contracted as a direct result of your employment. Call WorkSafe at 1-888-967-5377.

You may receive compensation if two conditions are met:

• You must be diagnosed with COVID-19, OR have non-medical factual evidence where other evidence establishes the existence of COVID-19.
• The nature of your employment created a risk of contracting the disease significantly greater than the ordinary exposure risk of the public at large.

Your Rights

• If you were fired without cause you may be owed severance pay if you have been employed for over 3 months.
• If your hours are cut to the point where you earn less than 50% of your average weekly wages, this is considered a layoff. If you don’t agree to the layoff it might be considered a termination by your employer and you may be owed severance pay. If you accept severance pay, you’ve accepted that it’s a termination of your employment.
• Your employer may ask you to agree to the layoff and sign an agreement that you are on a “temporary layoff”. If you agree to the layoff you are still considered employed. Your employer must tell you in advance when you are returning to work and give you reasonable notice of your return date.

Getting Paid

• Apply for the  Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) or Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB)

• Contact us for help filing a complaint with the BC Employment Standards Branch if your boss owes you severance, unpaid wages, or vacation pay.
• The amount of notice or severance pay, that you are owed, is calculated based on how long you have been employed. You must have been employed for a minimum of 3 months.

If you were laid off on a permanent basis and do not qualify for either the CRSB or the CRB, you may be eligible for regular Employment Insurance. There are a few important changes to EI to note:

• • The temporary qualifying rule that had reduced the hours needed to qualify for EI (from 420 hrs to 120 hrs) terminates for new EI claims made after Sept. 25 2021
  • EI applicants after Sept. 25, 2021 need 420 insurable hrs to be eligible for regular EI (and 600 hrs for specifical EI benefits)
  • The temporary minimum benefit of $500/ week ends as of Sept. 25, 2021, and the benefit rate returns to 55% of normal earnings. *With the exception that for new EI claims between Sept. 26 2021 and Nov. 20 2021 there will be a minimum benefit of $300/week
  • Apply online

Your Rights

• You are now entitled to unpaid, job-protected leave (e.g. you can’t be fired) if you need time off to care for a dependent for a reason related to COVID-19 (including school and daycare closures)
  
• In general you are allowed up to 16 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a critically-ill family member over 19 years old, and 36 weeks for a family member under 19.

Getting Paid

• You can apply for the The Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB):
  • Income support for  employed and self-employed people unable to work because they are caring for child under 12 years old, or a family member who needs supervised care
  • Applies to parents caring for children who are sick, self-isolating, or at risk of serious health complications related to COVID
  • Applies to parents caring for children who are at home due to school or daycare closures related to COVID, or who are at home because their regular care services are unavailable
  • Each household may apply up to a total of 42 weeks between September 27, 2020 and October 23, 2021.

  $500/week ($450 after taxes) per household. Must reapply each week for a maximum of 42 weeks. Apply online or by calling 1-800-959-2019
  

• The Federal government is increasing the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) to an extra $300 per child. This is an automatic benefit scheduled for May and if you already receive the CCB you don’t need to apply. if you don’t already get the CCB, apply here.

The BC government is expanding free and accessible online mental health support. Here’s a list of programs you can access. 

As well please contact us at info@workersolidarity.ca to learn about our free (Zoom) registered counselling services for precarious, non-unionized workers that do not have sufficient benefits to support them.

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is now closed (See ‘The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB)’ in the section below). However, you may be able to apply for retroactive assistance if you experienced a loss of employment for 14 or more days due to COVID-19, and this loss of employment occurred between December 19, 2019 and October 3, 2020. Find out if you’re eligible for retroactive assistance here. 

Effective October 1, 2020, the Government of Canada will introduce a new Medical and Parental Leave for students taking temporary leave from their studies for medical or parental reasons, including mental health reasons. It offers interest and payment-free for six-month periods, up to a maximum of 18 consecutive months.

The Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students will increase up to a maximum of $6,000 and the grant for part-time studies to $3,600. The Canada Student Grants for Students with Permanent Disabilities and Students with Dependants will also be doubled.

If you are interested in or are currently undertaking studies in a STEM field, you may want to apply for an eco internship. As part of the COVID-19 economic recovery program, the Canadian government has funded creation of 500 internships, particularly for those living in rural and remote areas. Click the link above to see more.

You may be able to include tips as insurable earnings when you apply for EI. It depends on whether your tips are “controlled tips” or “direct tips”

• Controlled tips: tips an employer controls or possesses and pays to the employee. (e.g. tips allocated to employees using a tipping pool, a tip-sharing formula determined by the employer, or employer adds a mandatory service charge to a client’s bill to cover tips)
• Direct tips: tips an employer has no control over. (e.g. a customer leaves a tip and the server keeps the whole amount, or when employees and not the employer decide how the tips are pooled or shared). For more examples see the CRA policy controlled vs direct tips.
  

• As of January 1st, 2022, under the B.C Employment Standards Act (ESA), employees can take up to 5 paid sick days per year for any personal illness or injury
• You must have worked for an employer for three months to be eligible for the paid sick leave
• Part-time, casual, or temporary employees covered by the ESA are eligible
• An employer can request reasonable sufficient proof of illness
• Paid sick days do not have to be taken consecutively

• Under the B.C. Employment Standards Act, employees can take up to 3 hours of paid leave to get each dose of their COVID-19 vaccine (retroactive to April 19 2021). If needed, you can take additional paid leave for a second dose.
• Applies to full-time and part-time workers no matter how long you’ve been employed
• Who pays? Your employer is required to pay you for the 3 hours if you need to leave or interrupt your work day to get vaccinated 
• An employer cannot ask you for a doctor’s note or proof you received a vaccine. They can ask you for proof of a vaccination appointment
• If you are helping a child or dependent get vaccinated you are entitled to unpaid job protected leave for doing so

• You may be entitled to unpaid, job-protected leave (e.g. you can’t be fired while on leave) if:
  • You are helping a dependent get vaccinated
  • You have been diagnosed with COVID-19
  • You are in isolation or in quarantine following an order or guideline from a public agency (e.g. from the Public Health Officer)
  • Your employer has directed you not to work out of concern about your exposure to others
  • You can’t work because you are caring for a child who is at home due to school or daycare closures
  • You are outside of the province and can’t return because of border/travel restrictions
  • You are more susceptible to COVID 19 because of an underlying health condition or illness and are receiving the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit
• If the employer’s business operations have been suspended or discontinued at the time the employee’s leave ends, the employer must comply with s.54(2) of the Employment Standards Act when operations resume (cannot fire an employee, or change a condition of their employment without written consent).
• ***This leave is retro-active to January 27, 2020 (e.g. if you were fired after this date you must be reinstated).

• Provides temporary income support ($300/week before taxes) to employed and self-employed people whose employment is impacted by a designated COVID-19 lockdown (see here for more information about whether or not you live or work in a designated lockdown region)
• If the lockdown lead to 1) the loss of your job, 2) a 50% reduction in your average weekly income (compared to previous year), or 3) you’re self-employed and couldn’t continue your work due to the lockdown you may be eligible
• Apply online for a period between  Oct 24 2021-May 7 2022 (must apply weekly)
• Cannot be combined with other COVID-19 income supports

• This Program has been extended to May 7, 2022
• The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) provides $500/week (before taxes) for a maximum of 6 weeks if you are unable to work at least 50% of your scheduled work week because you’re self-isolating for one of the following reasons:
  • You are sick with COVID-19 or may have COVID-19
  • You are advised to self-isolate due to COVID-19
  • You have an underlying health condition that puts you at greater risk of getting COVID-19.
    AND
  • You earned at least $5,000 in 2019, 2020, 2021 or in the last 12 months before the date you applied for EI
• Cannot be combined with other income support benefits

• There are a few important changes to EI:
• The temporary qualifying rule that reduced hours needed to qualify for EI (from 420 hrs to 120 hrs) terminates for new EI claims after Sept. 25 2021.
• EI applicants after Sept. 25 2021 will need 420 insurable hrs to be eligible for regular EI (and 600 hrs for specifically EI benefits)
• The temporary minimum benefit of $500/ week ends as of Sept. 25. 2021 and the benefit rate returns to 55% of normal earnings. *With the exception that for new EI claims between Sept. 26 2021 and Nov. 20 2021 there will be a minimum benefit of $300/week
• Apply online

• Income support for employed and self-employed people unable to work for at least 50% of the week because they are caring for child under 12 years old or a family member because schools, daycares, or care facilities are closed due to COVID-19
• Also applies to parents who cannot work because they are caring for children who are sick, self-isolating, or at risk of serious health complications related to COVID
• Applies to parents caring for children who are at home due to school or daycare closures related to COVID, or who are at home because their regular care services are unavailable
• $500/week ($450 after taxes) per household. Must reapply each week for a maximum of 42 weeks
• Apply online or by calling 1-800-959-2019
• Each household may apply up to a total of 44 weeks between September 27, 2020 and May 7, 2022.

• A one-time tax-free payment of up to $1000 (for families and single-parents) and up to $500 for individuals
• Must apply by June 30 2021. Apply online, in person at a Service BC location, or over the phone by calling 1-833-882-0020
• Benefit amount is based on  2019 income