The federal government is further modifying the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) following an extensive consultation aimed at ensuring the program better protects jobs and promotes growth as the economy continues to reopen.
The CEWS was originally put in place for an 12-week period, from March 15 to June 6, 2020, providing a 75-per-cent wage subsidy to eligible employers (those with year-to-year declines of 30 percent in revenues during the initial eligibility period). InMay, the eligibility period was extended to August 29, 2020.
The eligibility period has now been extended to December 19, 2020.
In addition to the extended timeline, effective (retroactively) July 5, 2020, the subsidy will be available to all eligible employers that have experienced a decline in revenues, with the subsidy amount varying depending on the scale of revenue decline (30 percent is no longer an application threshold).
A top-up subsidy, also retroactive to July, of up to 25 percent will be available to those employers that have been most adversely affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19 (namely, employers whose average revenues over the preceding three-month period have declined by 50 percent or more compared to the same months in the prior year or to the average monthly revenue in January and February 2020).
The two-part CEWS applies to the remuneration of active employees. A separate CEWS rate structure applies to furloughed employees. From July 5 to August 29, employers will have access to a CEWS rate that is at least as generous as they would have had under the initial CEWS structure.
More details can be found at the following link:
