Ontario Has Left Frontline Workers at the Mercy of COVID-19

By
Tebasum Durrani

The pandemic has exposed gaping holes in Ontario’s workplace compensations system. Sick and injured workers, often employed in frontline industries, have been left out of work without compensation.

Brandy Mckinnon, who was driving the Yonge bus the week COVID hit and watched her bus empty out.. Ontario faces stricter restrictions to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bus driver in Toronto, Ontario, 2021. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images)

In Ontario, the pandemic has renewed interest in the importance of workplace rights and protections. Unfortunately, however, these discussions have neglected the specific problems faced by injured and frontline workers.

As workers across the province marked another Injured Workers’ Day on June 1, the inadequacies of the provincial government’s pandemic response have become all too clear. So, too, has the need for significant change to Ontario’s workers compensation system.

Premium Deficiencies

In April, the government amended the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, capping the premiums that employers will have to pay in 2021. The act calculates employer premiums based on payroll for all covered employers in the province. Those premiums are linked to changes in the average industrial wage (AIW). The AIW measures the average hourly rate of pay for virtually all workforces across the province.

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