NDP proposal requiring employers to accommodate caregivers gets all-party support
“NDP MLA Claudia Chender succeeded in the first step in convincing the province to require workplaces to include accommodations for employees with dependents in their plans for re-opening.
The Dartmouth South MLA made the ask in a motion that received unanimous support from the all-party standing committee on human resources on Tuesday.
The committee agreed to send a letter to Minister of Labour and Advanced Education Labi Kousoulis that requires businesses to make ‘flexible work hours and other accommodations so that workers with dependents, women, in particular, are not further disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.’
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‘What we’re saying is when you’re asked to present a plan that plan has to take into account the deferential abilities of people to return to whatever normal looks like at this time,’ said Chender.
Unlike other provinces the Nova Scotia government has shutdown important all-party government oversight committees, including public accounts and health committees during the pandemic. The void means opposition parties are also shutout of policy discussions on managing the pandemic crisis.
Chender said her policy consideration shows not only the important role legislative committees play in shaping the government’s response to the pandemic but also keeping the government accountable and transparent.
‘The point of this process is to put this issue squarely on the agenda in a way that can’t be ignored,’ said Chender. ‘If government decides not to follow through with some course of action connected to this then they are making that decision in a public way.’
‘They can’t pretend they never heard of it before.’
She said allowances now offered to working parents and other primary caregivers, whether being permitted to care for their loved ones at home or in some cases at work, should be extended until more public health orders are lifted and the economy and society works to a new post-pandemic normal.
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