The B.C. government is extending a change in temporary layoff provisions aimed at protecting jobs and workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Harry Bains, Minister of Labour says, “Our goal has been to protect jobs and give businesses that are struggling to reopen additional time, so they won’t be forced to terminate their employees.”
In response to the economic impacts of Covid, the government extended the temporary layoff period from 13 to 16 weeks, then in June they extended the period to 24 weeks which was set to expire on Aug. 30.
Between July 20 and Aug. 30, the Employment Standards Branch approved 502 variance applications covering 9,154 workers with an average approval time of three days or less. But the province says the application process for temporary layoff extensions will remain in place as B.C. moves forward during the pandemic.
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