Sick day dilemma

In a perfect world, if you were concerned that you might have been exposed to COVID-19, you’d take all the precautions and immediately self-isolate, protecting others in the process.

Guess what? Canada’s not perfect. In many ways.

CROSS YOUR FINGERS

What if your employer doesn’t pay for sick leave, and working or not working means the difference between paying your rent and not being able to pay? A responsible person would stay home — but how many people actually do, or even can? How many just cross their fingers, head to work and hope that they aren’t infected? After all, 58 per cent of workers in Canada don’t get sick leave — and the lower your annual income, the less likely you are to have paid sick days.

There are federal benefits to cover loss of work due to COVID19 or self-isolation, but the process of applying for federal COVID-19 benefits is not always, well, speedy.

In January, the Toronto Board of Health unanimously passed a motion asking Ontario’s provincial government to legislate that workers get 10 days of paid sick leave during a pandemic, saying the need to stop the spread of the virus was paramount. Both unions and public health officials — including Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, have called for the same thing, as has the Green Party in the Prince Edward Island legislature. The Nova Scotia NDP also pushed for paid sick days last spring, but the move was voted down. And across Atlantic Canada, labour groups like Unifor are publicly campaigning for paid sick days.

And COVID-19 is not the only hole in the sick leave issue — some have existed long before the virus.

CAPE BRETON SINGLE MOTHER

Take the case of Cape Breton’s Heather Parsons, a single mother diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She’s undergoing aggressive chemotherapy, yet the Employment Insurance sickness benefit is capped at 13 weeks of coverage, meaning she may have to return to work while seriously ill or risk losing her home. She’s far from alone — she’s just the latest Canadian to discover that safety nets aren’t always large enough to catch you.

On the other side of the coin are the concerns of employers who have to find a way to backfill for sick employees, while also being asked to continue to pay them.

Face it — everyone has a different impression of what “being sick” means. Some people will trundle into the office with pneumonia if you don’t send them home, while others vanish with the first onset of a tickle in their throat to “nip things in the bud.”

Requiring a doctor’s note for days off is one solution, but it’s not without flaws, including gumming up the works of an already-stressed health care system with patients who don’t need real care, just official certifying paperwork.

Sick leave benefits, both during a pandemic and afterwards, are overdue for serious review.