Ministry of Health
Capacity Planning and Health Workforce Branch
Updated: June 22, 2020
The COVID-19 outbreak is causing staffing pressures for health service providers, particularly among frontline health care workers. Pandemic pay encourages essential staff to continue working and helps to attract prospective employees to the health sector to maintain safe staffing levels across the system.
Temporary pandemic pay is aimed at helping frontline staff who are experiencing severe challenges and are at heightened risk during the COVID-19 outbreak.
It is a targeted program designed to support employees who work in congregate care settings or primarily with vulnerable populations, where maintaining physical distancing is difficult or not possible.
The goals of this temporary pandemic pay are to:
For information on eligible workers and workplaces, please see the following website: https://www.ontario.ca/page/eligible-workplaces-and-workers-pandemic-pay.
For further information to assist you in determining if you are eligible, please consult your employer. Eligible employers should consult the funding agreements provided by the ministry to determine their eligible workforce.
From the overall total of 375,000 workers across Ontario that will receive pandemic pay, this will include over 225,000 workers in the health sector.
We are sharing the cost of this important initiative with the federal government. We appreciated its support and cooperation.
At this time, the total cost for the health sector (excluding long-term care) is anticipated to be approximately $725M. As the federal government is supporting a substantial portion of the cost (approximately 75%), the net cost to the province for the health sector is in the range of $196M.
Since there are several variables that impact the total cost of this initiative, including evaluating the total hours worked by eligible employees, the exact cost to the province for the health sector will be clearer after the 16-week period.
Workers will receive temporary pandemic pay of $4/hour on top of their regular wages. In addition, the government will be providing monthly lump sum payments of $250 for four months to eligible frontline workers who work over 100 hours per month. The pandemic pay will be effective for 16 weeks, from April 24, 2020 until August 13, 2020.
Lower income workers will benefit the most from pandemic pay. The $4/hour top up and available $250 monthly lump sums represent larger percentage increases for lower-income workers such as PSWs.
Staff will receive pandemic pay directly from their employer. We are working with employers to provide them with the funding needed to pay their eligible workers. Funding will be provided to employers in June and expect that eligible workers will begin to receive their pandemic pay soon afterwards. Accountability mechanisms will be built into the transfer payments to employers to ensure this money flows to workers.
Pandemic pay supports retaining our health workforce across all sectors of the health system during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is temporary and does not affect base salaries. The pandemic pay will be effective for 16 weeks, from April 24, 2020 until August 13, 2020. Payments for eligible hours of work during this time frame may be made after August 13, until all eligible employees have received their full pay.
For the purposes of program evaluation and audit, the ministry will seek and retain assurances that funds have been disbursed as permitted by transfer payment agreements.
Where funding is disbursed directly to the worker’s employer (e.g. municipalities, transfer payment organization), an attestation directly from the employer will be secured
Where funding is disbursed through a delivery agent (e.g. regional LHINs), a written attestation by an authorized representative (e.g. CEO or Board Chair) on behalf of the delivery agencies/employers will be secured
Attestations may include submitting evidence of eligibility such as a worker’s title, hours worked, work location, etc. or, in the case of funding through delivery agents, retention of records that could be used for auditing and controllership purposes.
All staff redeployed to an eligible position in an eligible sector may receive the $4 premium and lump sum.
All health care workers are valued and important to our efforts to fight COVID-19. We recognize that there are many frontline heroes that are not captured by the initiative. Ideally, we would be able to provide pandemic pay to all of those who are deserving. However, there is a limit to the amount of funding provided by the federal government through our agreement.
Temporary pandemic pay is aimed at helping frontline staff who are experiencing severe challenges and are at heightened risk during the COVID-19 outbreak because of their work on the frontlines, directly with patients. Many of these workers are delivering services that support some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, often putting themselves or their loved ones at risk.
After careful consideration, the government is not expanding the pandemic pay program beyond those already deemed eligible. Over 375,000 of Ontario’s frontline workers will receive pandemic pay, of which 225,000 are funded by the Ministry of Health. It is the largest of its kind in the country and is unprecedented in the province’s history. As the Premier has said, unfortunately, the resources that we have agreed to with the federal government can only go so far.
The ministry is focused on health providers who regularly and consistently face the threat of exposure to COVID-19 in their work setting. While services provided by allied health providers in primary care are important, it is not possible to say that primary care providers are in settings where they face regular and consistent exposure to COVID-19.
All health care workers are valued and important to our efforts to fight COVID-19. Temporary pandemic pay is aimed at those workers who are critically important to the province’s response to the crisis and are at a heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19 because of their work on the front lines, directly with patients. These workers are delivering critical services that support all Ontarians, including the most vulnerable members of our communities, often putting themselves or their loved ones at risk. This includes:
A worker would be considered eligible/ineligible based on the role/position the individual is filling at the eligible workplace, not their professional designation. For example, if an individual registered as an RN was working in a hospital as a dietitian, for which they were also registered, this individual would not receive pandemic pay, as dietitians are not eligible and even though they were also registered as an RN.
If an eligible worker met all the criteria for an already completed period of Pandemic Pay, but has since retired, that worker should be reimbursed the amount of pandemic pay earned for the eligible hours worked, subject to the terms of their employment and any applicable collective agreements.
If an eligible hospital worker met all the criteria for an already completed period of Pandemic Pay, but has since resigned, then it is up to the hospital to decide, according to internal hospital policy and any collective agreements that may be applicable, to determine if the worker should be reimbursed for pandemic pay earned for any eligible hours worked.
The Emergency Order passed on May 29, 2020 prohibits all employers, among other entities, from expanding eligibility for temporary pandemic pay.
Consequently, funding provided by the government to employers for temporary pandemic pay must be disbursed in accordance with the government’s eligibility framework for temporary pandemic pay.
Employers will not be permitted to use Ontario government funds of any kind for the purpose of making other forms of COVID-19-related payments to employees who are otherwise ineligible for the government’s own program for temporary pandemic pay. This includes (but is not limited to) any funds previously allocated to an employer for other programs; base funding allocation for operations or services delivery etc.
Pandemic pay is intended for publicly funded front-line workers. Privately contracted individuals are not eligible to receive this increase.
Employers are responsible for confirming what positions are management as defined by their organization. An example of management may be an employee who is responsible for overseeing and directing other employees.
No. Manger positions are not eligible for temporary pandemic pay.
Manager positions are not eligible for temporary pandemic pay. If a supervisor position is not responsible for other employees, they may be eligible for pandemic pay if they are working in an eligible role in an eligible workplace. Employers are responsible for determining formal supervisory and reporting roles and are reminded that they may not expand the scope of pandemic pay.
No. Manager positions are not eligible for temporary pandemic pay.
Over 225,000 of Ontario’s frontline health sector workers will receive pandemic pay. It is the largest of its kind in the country and is unprecedented in the province’s history. As the Premier has said, unfortunately, the resources that we have agreed to with the federal government can only go so far. After careful consideration, the government is not expanding the pandemic pay program beyond those already deemed eligible.
Employees with eligibility concerns are encouraged to connect with their employers to determine their eligibility status and consult the public website for more information: https://www.ontario.ca/page/eligible-workplaces-and-workers-pandemic-pay.
Eligible workers can seek temporary pandemic pay for both
Client facing reception/administrative workers would be those positions that are having direct, in-person patient interaction onsite at the workplace. Any virtual care, telework or remote work hours/positions would be ineligible for pandemic pay, as these are neither direct, in-person patient interaction, nor would they be occurring onsite at the eligible workplace.
The government has issued a Regulation under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act,1990, to temporarily suspend certain provisions of the PSPSFGA and replace them with different provisions to support frontline employees.
This temporary regulation reflects the extraordinary challenges posed by COVID-19 and does not reflect a long-term change in the government’s position on public sector compensation or on the PSPSFGA.
For additional information, please refer to O. Reg. 195/20: Order under subsection 7.1 (2) of the act - treatment of temporary COVID-19 related payments to employees: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/200195
Ontario’s pandemic pay program has been designed with criteria focused on frontline roles working in congregate settings and/ or with vulnerable populations where the risk of infection is greatest. Managers typically have different responsibilities from frontline staff in these settings and therefore managers are not included in the Pandemic Pay program.
Ministries will not provide additional resources specifically for this purpose, however existing TP agreements and funding arrangements may provide flexibility within existing envelopes to support costs incurred to ensure that programs continue to be delivered safely, effectively and without disruption.
