Victoria – Amendments to the Employment Standards Act providing workers with up to three hours of paid leave to get each dose of their COVID-19 vaccine are now in effect, retroactive to April 19,2021.
Bill 3 is now law and it ensures that no employee will lose pay if they need time away from work to get vaccinated. This applies to both full-time and part-time employees.
This is similar to the allowance for time to vote in elections.
The legislation responds to the feedback received during consultations with the business community, labour organizations, Indigenous partners and other stakeholders. The legislation improves on the regulatory change made on April 1,2021, that provides unpaid job-protected leave workers to take the time they need to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
This unpaid leave remains in place to supplement the new paid time off, for example, to accompany dependent family members to get vaccinated or in the event a worker needs more than three hours of paid leave to travel to their vaccine appointment.
