On April 29, 2021, the Ontario Government amended the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”) to require employers to provide employees with up to three days of paid Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (“Paid IDEL”) for absences from work due to a COVID-19-related reason.
This new statutory entitlement is currently available only for the period of April 19, 2021 to July 31, 2022, but this timeframe may be extended by regulation.
Paid IDEL days are in addition to employees’ rights to Unpaid IDEL under the ESA, and are available to all employees who are covered by the ESA. Paid IDEL is not available to independent contractors or employees who fit within an exemption from ESA coverage.
Eligible employees may have contractual entitlements to paid leave days that would apply in some or all the same circumstances as Paid IDEL, in which case those days may offset the Paid IDEL days. The chart below is a non-exhaustive list of groups of unionized employees that have limited contractual paid leave days. For that reason, they are more likely to use Paid IDEL days.
| Bargaining Unit | Employees in Bargaining Unit without entitlement to paid leaves that can be set off against Paid IDEL days | Employees in Bargaining Unit with entitlement to paid leaves that may be set off against Paid IDEL days |
| CUPE Local 1230, Student Casual | All employees | N/A |
| CUPE Local 3261, Casual | All employees | N/A |
| USW Local 1998, Casual | All employees | N/A |
| CUPE Local 3261, Full-time & Part-time | Temporary employees (120 Days Temps) only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees) |
| CUPE Local 3261-89 Chestnut | Casual employees only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees) |
| Carpenters & Allied Workers, Local 27 | Temporary Journeypersons only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees and apprentices) |
| IBEW 353, Electricians | Temporary Journeyperson Electricians / Control Techs only |
All other members of the BU (including probationary employees and apprentices) |
| IBEW 353, Locksmiths | Temporary Locksmiths only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees and apprentices) |
| IBEW 353, Machinists | Temporary industrial Machinists/Millwrights only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees and apprentices) |
| UA Local 46 Plumbers, Steamfitters and Sprinklerfitters |
Temporary Journeyperson Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Sprinklerfitters only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees and apprentices) |
| SMWIA Local 30 | Temporary Journeyperson Sheetmetal Workers only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees and apprentices) |
| OPSEU 519 | 1. Probationary Employees (within the initial 90 working days) 2. Part Time employees 3. Temporary employees |
All other members of the BU (including probationary employees that have completed 90 working days) |
| Unifor, Local 2003 | Temporary employees only | All other members of the BU (including probationary employees) |
Please refer to our IDEL FAQs for more details on IDEL and its application. The Create Paid IDEL procedure documentation details the process of recording paid IDEL days in HRIS.
For some employee groups, manual paid IDEL entries may be required. The process for manual IDEL entries for appointed employees is to: (a) consult with Divisional HR Office to confirm that a manual process is required (b) enter the unpaid absence code “Other Leave/Absence-Unpd” in HRIS (c) process an Additional Payment (maximum of $200).
Questions & Support
For assistance with HRIS processing, please submit a ticket to the HRIS Help Desk using the HR Service Centre.
For policy interpretation assistance, please contact your Divisional HR Office.