UPDATE ON LAYOFFS – March 17, 2020. With regards to your employees, the IBEW has revised its hiring hall rules (click here). The process for you, as an employer, is to lay-off your employees so that they can collect EI while we wait for this to blow over. Please pass this information along to your employees as well. Here are the three scenarios:
* For those workers who are in quarantine or who have been directed to self-isolate as a result of the COVID-19, please fill in the ROE as “Medical” and the one-week waiting period will be waived, subject to them calling the EI Hotline at 1-833-381-2725. Please email the name of the employee and job site that was shut down to the IBEW at jharrison@ibew586.org. This will keep them out of the unions “work book.” Note the IBEW is closed to everyone other than staff.
* For those workers who are out of work due to temporary lay-offs and job site closures they will not be eligible for the one-week waiver. Therefore, please fill in the ROE as “Shortage of Work due to Coronavirus”. They will have to wait 1 week for EI to start. Please email the name of the employee and job site that was shut down to the IBEW at jharrison@ibew586.org. Again, this will keep them out of the unions “work book.”
* For those workers who volunteer to self-isolate due to travel, please check off ‘Other” on the ROE and include ‘self-isolated due to travel.’ You can then direct the employee to the EI Hotline at 1-833-381-2725 where they can make their case to have the one-week waiting period waived. Please email the name of the employee and job site that was shut down to the IBEW at jharrison@ibew586.org. Again, this will keep them out of the “work book.”
Please tell your employees that they do not have to sign ‘the book’. The IBEW will track the employees as they’re names and job sites are sent to the IBEW from you, the employer. Once the pandemic is over, the employees will simply return to work after the contractor notifies the IBEW in writing.
Should you have any questions, you can reference this ECA Ottawa website, EI sickness benefits. The online application is available at https://srv270.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/AW/introduction?GoCTemplateCulture=en-CA.
Please ensure you read the attached memo from the IBEW. If you have any questions, and due to the overwhelming number of calls due to this virus, it would best to email the ECA Ottawa office, daryl@ecaottawa.org.
Some very good and trusted information can be found at . Information can be found via the following link https://hicksmorley.com/2020/03/16/update-on-coronavirus-covid-19-ontario-announces-pandemic-enhanced-measures-to-safeguard-public/.