The government announces the introduction of the Essential Worker Retention Incentive Program (EWRIP), which will provide a benefit of $100 per week for low-income earners working full-time or part-time in essential services.
The purpose of this compensation is to ensure that full-time workers in essential sectors receive a higher salary than they would receive under the Canada Emergency Benefit.
This new benefit will be paid retroactively to March 15, for a maximum of sixteen weeks. With this compensation, the worker will receive, in addition to his or her salary, a taxable lump sum of $400 per month, i.e. $1,600 for a sixteen-week period. To qualify, the applicant must :
- work in an essential sector during the period in question;
- earn a gross salary of $550 a week or less;
- have an annual working income of at least $5,000 and a total annual income of $28,600 or less, calculated before the benefit.
This temporary benefit, which could reach some 600,000 employees, can be applied for using a Revenu Québec web form available from May 19, and will be paid by direct deposit from May 27. The cost of the program is estimated at $890 million.
Reminders
This new measure is in addition to those already in place since the start of the pandemic, including :
- Emergency assistance for small and medium-sized businesses ($150 million);
- a temporary $4/hour wage increase for private-sector orderlies;
- Temporary Worker Assistance Program (TWAP);
- the Programme d’action concertée pour les entreprises (PACTE);
- more flexible filing of tax returns and payment of tax balances and instalments;
- faster payment of tax credits to businesses
- suspension of all student loan repayments for a period of six months;
- a 25% reduction in the mandatory withdrawal amount from a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) in 2020;
- deferral of QST payments for businesses until June 30, without interest or penalties.
(Source: Government of Quebec)
