By Julia Skikavich
Ragtime Vintage Clothing on Flora Street is run by two people, and owner John Greaves says it is a big deal when someone has to take time off work.
“We can’t take time off work,” says Greaves. “We’d have to close our doors. I mean we might as well shut down.”
But the new federally financed compassionate care leave benefit — which came into effect on Jan. 4 — will allow anyone eligible for employment insurance to take up to eight weeks off work to care for a gravely ill or dying family member while receiving 55 per cent of their insured earnings.
To qualify for the program, individuals must have worked 600 hours in the 52 weeks prior to their application.
They must also present a medical certificate stating that their family member is likely to die within 26 weeks.
Greaves says that although the benefit is good on humanitarian grounds it doesn’t take small business employment environments into consideration.
“The concept is good, but it wouldn’t benefit us,” he says. “This may be one thing at McDonald’s but it’s different for small businesses.”
The owner of Bank Street’s GamePower Systems, Tim Connors, agrees.
“I’d have to hire and train someone to replace the person,” he says, adding that the new employee may have to be laid off when the person on leave returned. “It’s things like that that cause businesses to fail.”
Andrew Sharpe, executive director of the Centre for the Study of Living Standards says the new benefit package shouldn’t be a problem for employers.
“People are replaceable. It can be done by overlapping work hours or hiring someone part-time.”
However, finding the people to replace employees that choose to take the leave is not the only problem with the new benefit.
Sharon Baxter, executive director of the Canadian Hospice and Palliative Care Association says many businesses are not aware the compassionate care program exists.
“The government really rushed to get this in place. They didn’t advertise it to businesses as much as they maybe should have. A lot of businesses aren’t even aware of it yet.”
This appears to be true in Centretown, where only three of the 12 small business owners contacted for interviews were able to say they had heard of the new benefit.
Those that hadn’t did not want to comment.
But Robert Fox, director of communications for the Canadian Union of Public Employees says the benefit may put “pressure on smaller operations.”
“It can be harder to find someone to replace an employee for a short period,” says Fox.
The federal government is estimating approximately 270,000 Canadians will apply for the leave annually.
The annual cost of the program will be $1.5 million compared with the current $2.4-billion yearly cost to the economy caused by a loss of productivity related to employees taking time off of work to care for ill family members.
Employees dealing with a dying family member may be distracted and have interruptions to their work schedule, says Fox. “It can mean they aren’t likely contributing to the team.”
The benefit package will allow businesses to be more aware of and understanding of what is happening in the lives of their employees, he says.
“It’s a progressive step, a positive step,” says Sharpe, adding the inconvenience that may be experienced by employers is a small price to pay for the program.
“It’s a good thing for someone that needs to do it – to take care of their family,” says Steno Cesario, owner of Paris Tailors on Bank Street. As a small business owner, Cesario says he can see how the benefit program could become a problem if too many employees start asking to take it but adds, “Realistically, it’s not something that is going to happen every year even.”