SASKATOON -- Workers, especially low-wage, front-line employees, should be given paid time off to get the COVID-19 vaccine, employment and labour advocates say.
But so far only one province has officially amended its health and safety regulations to introduce what it鈥檚 calling a 鈥渟pecial vaccination leave.鈥
As part of its Phase 2 vaccine rollout, it was introducing a three-hour paid leave to allow workers to get jabbed on company time. Outside of Canada, New York state introduced legislation to allow four hours of paid time off work to get the vaccine. And a Toronto-based employment lawyer said these are models are worth copying.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a great idea,鈥 Waheeda Ekhlas Smith told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview. She likened the approach to how Canada mandates paid time off for workers to . 鈥淚 think it would make a difference, particularly for retail workers or factory workers.鈥
She said this is a much better incentive than free gift cards or even free doughnuts, for example, which some companies in the U.S. are offering.
Other provinces have yet to state if they鈥檒l follow Saskatchewan鈥檚 lead. However, it may be a bit premature as most provinces are still currently vaccinating vulnerable groups such as the elderly, those with disabilities, as well as Indigenous people. But this is changing as are now planning to offer vaccines to non-medical front-line workers, such as restaurant employees.
鈥淪omething like having paid time I think would make a huge difference because one of the reasons that these lower-wage earners have gone into work -- even when they weren鈥檛 feeling well -- was because they didn鈥檛 have paid sick leave,鈥 Ekhlas Smith said.
鈥淭hose who may be lower-income earners may [also] be in a position where they can鈥檛 say anything,鈥 she said, explaining that a lot of workers are in precarious work environments and fear losing their job if they somehow upset their bosses.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 see them being able to advocate, even during the best of times, and to have a voice."
Throughout the pandemic, it was not uncommon for workers in this position to continue going to work if they felt sick or even unsafe because they simply couldn鈥檛 afford to miss a paycheck.
Advocates have similarly flagged the lack of financial supports for some disabled workers during the pandemic. Others have , with the Premier Doug Ford to offer paid time for workers to get the COVID-19 shot.
MAKE IT EASY TO GET JABBED: ADVOCATE
Other worker advocates across the country have been lobbying their respective provinces for programs similar to Saskatchewan鈥檚.
鈥淢any front-line workers might not have access to time off to attend a vaccination appointment in the tight turnaround between becoming eligible for vaccination and receiving an appointment,鈥 Kim Novak, UFCW 1518 union president, which represents grocery store workers in British Columbia, told CTVNews.ca in an email.
For the past several weeks, Novak said her union has been calling on B.C. 鈥渢o remove these logistical barriers to vaccination for front-line workers by granting them four uninterrupted hours off work.鈥
Her union also noted that another avenue for workers could also be setting up vaccination clinics in large job hubs such as industrial food plants. The union told CTVNews.ca that this convenience has led to a 95 per cent vaccination rate in one of the plants their members work at.
Before the governments steps in, Ekhlas Smith expects there鈥檒l be a patchwork of private companies offering their own incentives -- not mandates -- to get their employees to wait in COVID-19 vaccine lineups.
So far, of paid leave to get jabbed, with the giving its employees three hours.
She said that she feels 鈥渃ompanies that are really big or small 鈥楳om and Pop鈥 shops,鈥 will be some of the first ones to offer paid time off. And she urged the government not to simply leave the paid leave to private companies.
