The provincial government has announced that more than 250,000 front-line health, social services and corrections employees in British Columbia will receive temporary pandemic pay.
The pandemic pay is provided as part of a cost-sharing program with the federal government to support workers delivering health and social services to vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligible workers will receive a lump-sum payment of about $4 per hour for a 16 week period, commencing March 15, 2020. Workers do not need to apply for pandemic pay. The government will provide the funds to employers who will then distribute the pay to eligible employees.
In order to be eligible, a worker must have worked straight-time hours at any point during the 16-week period commencing March 15, 2020 and must work in an eligible sector, workplace and role delivering in-person, front-line care in health, social services and/or corrections. A list of the eligible sectors, workplaces and roles is available here. Management, fee-for-service providers and employees on leave are not eligible.
If you have any questions about this article, please contact Sari Wiens, Ilan Burkes, Nicole Toye or Jessica Fairbairn.
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