The territory’s planned new sick leave program is disappointing, poorly thought-out and loaded with flaws and loopholes, NDP MLA Lane Tredger told the legislature Tuesday.

“Over a year ago, the make work safe committee delivered their final report on how paid sick leave should be implemented in the Yukon,” Tredger noted.

That panel included business owners, workers and MLAs. Its report called for 10 days of paid sick leave for all employees, among other recommendations.

“It has been over a year since that report was tabled, so we had very much hoped for an exciting announcement today,” 
Tredger said.

“We hear all the time from workers who are struggling with what to do when they or their children are sick. They are making impossible choices between paying their bills and following the public health advice to stay home when sick.”

During the panel’s consultations, the MLA said, one woman related how every time she was sick and had to stay home without pay, “she had to choose which of her belongings to sell so that she could still pay her bills.

“That’s why we have kept up the pressure for a permanent paid sick leave program, and that’s why it’s so disappointing to be presented today with such an inadequate, poorly chosen program,” Tredger said. There are a lot of flaws.”

The most glaring problem is that the plan only applies to organizations that don’t already have a sick leave program, they said.

“So, businesses or organizations that have already taken it on themselves to do the right thing and added to their business costs in order to give their employees sick leave, they get nothing from the government.

“Meanwhile, their competitors will be subsidized as a reward for not providing sick leave.

“If I were an organization that already pays for sick leave and will be getting nothing through this program while my competitors are subsidized, I would be outraged.”

Another problem is the program’s application only to workers who make less than $33.94 per hour, Tredger said.

“So, imagine that you and your friend work at a business doing the same job. Your friend makes just under the cut-off and is eligible for the sick leave program.

“Meanwhile, you have worked there a few years longer and so you make a dollar or so more an hour. That puts you over the cut-off and you will not get any paid sick leave,” the MLA pointed out.

“It seems pretty bizarre to have people working side-by-side but only some of them get sick leave. It’s creating a two-tier workplace.”

Not making the program manda-tory is another flaw, Tredger added.

“Employers have to opt in. That means that if an employer doesn’t want their employees to take sick leave, they don’t have to.

“Workers have no way of making sure they get paid for their sick leave; it is completely dependent upon the employer wanting to do it every time they take a sick day.

“This is a problem that we have raised many times, and it’s disappointing to see it carried forward in every new version of this program.”

Also problematic is that First Nation governments and municipalities are excluded “as if their employees don’t also get sick,” the New Democrat said.

As well, people aren’t eligible until they have been working for 90 days, they added.

“That means seasonal workers will be essentially ineligible for the first year of work. Non-Yukon residents are also excluded.

“One of the key purposes of paid sick leave is to prevent the spread of illness, and excluding the majority of a sector that is directly involved in service provision undoes this completely.”

Tredger also asked about on-call workers.

“For example, will the on-call workers who work at the emergency shelter be eligible? Given that they work with extremely vulnerable people, I would hope that the answer would be yes.”

The Making Work Safe Panel “poured hours into reviewing research and best practices to come up with the recommendations,” Tredger said.

“Those recommendations are almost entirely ignored by this program. Will their other recommendations be ignored too?

“Will parents be able to use the program to care for sick children? Will doctor’s notes be required by employers?”

There’s a reason why no other Canadian jurisdiction has gone with this program model, Tredger said.

“It’s disappointing to see this government take so long to bring this forward and still bring forward an unfair program full of loopholes and exceptions. “

Yukon Party MLA Geraldine Van Bibber said Pillai’s announcement “seems to be largely consistent with what the premier announced at his budget speech to the Yukon Chamber of Commerce the day after the budget was tabled (March 2).

“However, it does seem to be different from what was recommended in the Making Work Safe Panel,” Van Bibber pointed out, such as 10 paid sick days per year.

“I also note that the previous paid sick leave program provided 10 paid sick days. It seems that the new program only offers 40 hours, which, of course, is five sick days,” Van Bibber said.

“So, can the premier confirm that this new program will reduce the number from 10 to five?

“We will be monitoring the impact of this program on the labour market and watching how this program affects the department’s budget.”

Pillai responded, “We thought that this was a strong policy position and hoped to have one of the parties support it, but I didn’t hear the word ‘support’ from either party.”

The business community will be consulted about the government’s plans, he added.

“There has been a delay with the conversation but that conversation will happen... there are a number of items that came from (the panel’s) recommendations, so that work will go to the public, and we will get feedback. In the interim, we built a program.”

Referencing Tredger’s comments, Pillai said, “In government and leadership, you have to make decisions. You can’t just spend and spend and spend. You have to have parameters, and you have to build it out and build budgets.

“The reality is that you have to make tough decisions and you have to be able to structure programs. There are cut-offs. You try to take the data you have to make the best decisions.

“ ... People think it is very innovative.”

The government is “happy to step up to back the private sector — understand labour challenges with a hot economy and the lowest unemployment in the country,” Pillai added.

“It makes it hard to retain folks; it is very competitive. We hope this will support folks at a family level, a grassroots level, a business level, and an NGO level.”