On May 20, 2021, the Province amended the Employment Standards Act (B.C.) to require employers to provide employees with up to three days of paid leave if they needed to stay home for specified COVID-19 related reasons. Although employers were generally required to pay the employees’ wages, eligible employers were potentially entitled to be reimbursed by the B.C. government for part or all of such sick leave payments pursuant to the Province’s Sick-Leave Reimbursement Program (“SLRP”).
After noting that government assistance not included in income under s. 9(1) may be includible under s. 12(1)(x), CRA stated:
Since the SLRP amounts received by an employer are likely received in the course of earning income from a business, they should be included in the employer’s income in accordance with subsection 9(1) … .