Before it’s Too Late: Full Report and News Release

Full Report - "Before it’s Too Late: How to Close the Paid Sick Day Gap During COVID-19 and Beyond"

News Release

Health experts, teachers, frontline workers sound the alarm for paid sick days

Access a recording of the press conference here.

(Ontario, Aug. 19, 2020) – For a safe return to schools and to protect against a devastating second wave of COVID-19, doctors, teachers and frontline workers joined together today to call for paid sick days and expose gaps in the recently announced federal sick leave program that jeopardize public health. They launched a new report, “Before it’s Too Late: How to close the paid sick days gap during COVID-19 and beyond,” written by health providers and making the urgent case for paid sick days in every jurisdiction across Canada. 

“We now know that 58% of workers in Canada do not have paid sick days. These are our patients working low-wage, precarious jobs and who are disproportionately women, Black, Indigenous and other racialized workers,” said Carolina Jimenez, Registered Nurse and Coordinator of the Decent Work and Health Network. “This new report reveals that Canada is among the bottom quarter of countries globally that do not guarantee paid sick leave on the first day of illness – a crucial measure that allows our patients to stay home at the first sign of symptoms. We cannot wait for COVID-19 cases to start spiking again, governments must act now to provide paid sick days for all workers on a permanent basis.” 

“There is no question that infections often spread quickly and easily in workplaces,” said Dr. Monika Dutt, Family Physician and Public Health Specialist from Nova Scotia. “As you will see in the report, cities with paid sick days saw a 40% 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.” 

“Paid sick days must also be free of barriers such as sick notes,” continued Dr. Dutt. “As revealed in the report, 76% of physicians surveyed said they write at least 1 sick note a day, and 83% agreed that patients can determine when to return to work on their own, confirming that visits to the doctor for sick notes are unnecessary and a waste of public resources.” 

“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,” shared Kyle Hoskin, a municipal waste collector from the Niagara region. “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.”

“As a cleaner, I worked up to 3 jobs at a time in different malls, grocery stores, and buildings and I was often forced to work sick because I couldn’t afford to stay home. When you’re living paycheque to paycheque without paid sick days, falling ill is a constant fear because it means you won’t be able to make ends meet,” said Veronica Zaragoza, a former cleaner and now an organizer with the Workers’ Action Centre. “Cleaners are invisible workers, but everyone’s health depends on having clean public spaces. Most are also racialized, immigrant workers, and many are undocumented. For their health and the health of the public, we all need access to paid sick days, regardless of status.” 

“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.”

“I don’t have paid sick days and neither do my colleagues,” said Kim Bradley, an early childhood educator in a childcare centre. “We are so often faced with an impossible choice between losing the pay we rely on or risking the spread of infection. When you’re working with children, you get sick several times a year -- how can we support our families if we’re penalized with pay cuts every time we get sick? That's why we echo health workers in demanding at least 7 permanent paid sick days, plus an additional 14 days during public health emergencies.”