Feds extend Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) has been extended through to Dec. 19, 2020.

New legislation – Bill C-20 – allows more companies to be eligible for the subsidy, and changes the amount companies can put toward their workers’ wages.

Bill C-20 also allows for a one-time payment of $600 to people with disabilities.

The revised CEWS no longer includes of revenue-drop test for the base subsidy. A scaled base subsidy available to all employers who experience any decline in monthly revenues. The subsidy amount varies depending on the scale of revenue decline. The base subsidy would be at a specified rate of the reduction in an eligible employer’s monthly revenues, applied to the amount of remuneration paid to the employee for the eligibility period, to an initial maximum of $677 /week on remuneration of up to $1,129 /week. The scaled base subsidy enables employers with less than the original qualifying 30% revenue loss to access support.

The federal government has also introduced a top-up subsidy of up to an additional 25% for employers who were hit the hardest by the COVID-19 crisis and experienced a three-month average revenue drop of more than 50%.

First announced on April 1, 2020, CEWS was intended to help employers protect jobs, rehire employees and provide workers with a decent income. The subsidy originally covered 75% of an employee’s wages, up to $847/week.