On April 20, 2021, Toronto Public Health and Peel Public Health announced that they will be issuing Section 22 Orders under the Health Protection and Promotion Act for Workplaces with employees diagnosed with COVID-19. For details on the orders please refer to our In A Flash articles Peel Public Health Releases Section 22 Order to Close Workplaces With 5 or More COVID-19 Cases and Toronto Public Health Releases Section 22 Order to Close Workplaces with 5 or More COVID-19 Cases
The City of Toronto announced that its order will require the closure of workplaces with five or more cases of COVID-19 in the previous 14 days where the workers could have reasonably acquired their infection at work.
The Region of Peel announced that its order will require the closure of workplaces with five or more cases of COVID-19 in the previous 14 days where the workers could have reasonably acquired their infection at work or no obvious source of infection has been identified outside of the workplace.
Both the City of Toronto and the Region of Peel announced that such workplace closures will last 10 calendars days, with day 1 starting the day after the workplace is notified that they must close. All employees impacted by a workplace closure will need to self-isolate, and will not be permitted to work in any other workplace. The Toronto Public Health and Peel Public Health websites will publish the names of all affected businesses while they are closed.
Essential workplaces exempt from workplace closure will include, but are not limited to: healthcare, first responders, critical infrastructure, emergency childcare, and education.
It was announced by both the City of Toronto and the Region of Peel that these workplace closures will be effective Friday, April 23, 2021.
The Toronto news release can be found here, and the Peel Region news release can be found here.
If you have any questions about this matter, other COVID-19 related issues, or would like any other workplace law assistance, please contact a Mathews Dinsdale lawyer, or refer to the Firm’s COVID-19 website resources.
