Few Workers Have Paid Leave, Qualify for EI If Off Job Due to COVID 19, Study Says

Service Canada documents displaying Employment Insurance options. Newly released research says broad swaths of the Canadian workforce won't have access to paid leave by their employers or existing federal help should they be forced off the job due to COVID-19. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA—New research says broad swaths of the Canadian workforce won’t have access to paid leave from their employers or existing federal help should they be forced off the job due to COVID-19.

The research note from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says 38 percent of sickness leave and 23 percent of family leave of more than a week was covered by employers in 2019.