With more provinces, such as Saskatchewan, moving away from widespread COVID-19 PCR testing, employers and employees may be wondering what this means for their rights and workers’ compensation claims.
With the rapid spread of COVID-19 and Omicron, some employers have started asking their employees to show a negative test before returning to work after contracting the virus.
Howard Levitt, an employment lawyer based in Toronto, said if an employer wants to make sure their workplace is safe and ask for a negative test, they have a right to do so.
“First of all, if the employer wants it just generally speaking, they better pay for the tests because it’s the employer’s demand,” Levitt explained.
“But if they, on the other hand, are allowing unvaccinated people to keep working, notwithstanding a general policy requiring vaccinations, then we can say to the unvaccinated, you have to get the testing at your own expense because you’re the one asking for accommodation.”
Levitt added workplaces can also take the approach of requiring everyone to be tested before coming into the workplace.
“The employer’s going to have to pay for the test. They’re the ones imposing the rules there. It’s a new workplace rule, it’s an expense the employee didn’t have before, and therefore the employer has to pay for it.”
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) president Lori Johb said she is hearing anecdotally about workers who have these concerns, “especially since now PCR tests are not readily available.”
On Dec. 30, Premier Scott Moe announced that residents who test positive on rapid antigen tests do not need to seek an additional PCR test to confirm diagnosis.
Instead, those residents should assume they have COVID-19 and self-isolate immediately.
Johb said SFL’s concern is workers needing proof of illness in order to stay home if they are sick.
“In order to be off sick you need to have proof of illness and to qualify for sick pay or (workers compensation) or even medical benefits, any of those things you need to have proof of illness and without a PCR test, you do not have that,” Johb told Global News.
In a statement to Global News, the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) said they have not been accepting rapid test results, “as there is no way to obtain a medical record confirming these results.”
During a provincial emergency operations centre (PEOC) briefing, officials were asked if they had contacted WCB before recommending asymptomatic individuals not get a PCR test.
“I can’t speak to whether or not (WCB) was contacted or not in advance of this,” Ken Dueck, executive director of the business response team responded.
Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency president Marlo Pritchard said the PEOC team would be reaching out to WCB in the coming days on the issue.
The WCB told Global News it covers work-related COVID-19 claims “if there is a confirmed link between the worker’s exposure and their employment, and they contract COVID-19.”
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