Press Release:
CANADA: New Legislation Will Assist Living Organ DonorsMcGuinty Government Provides Job-Protected Leave For Living Organ Donors
Living organ donors in Ontario will soon have the benefit of
job-protected leave.
Ontario has passed amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to
provide unpaid job-protected leave for employees who donate certain organs to
another individual. The amendments come into force upon proclamation.
The legislation builds on the $4 million announced in 2007 to implement
an Organ Donation Strategy. The strategy includes the establishment of the
Program for Reimbursing Expenses of Living Organ Donors, a fund that will
reimburse living organ donors for certain eligible, out-of-pocket expenses and
lost income associated with their organ donation.
Living donation has many advantages such as reducing wait times and
patient suffering, increased transplant success, and reduced health costs.
QUOTES
"Job-protected leave provides necessary support to caring people who want
to help others. This is the right thing to do."
- Peter Fonseca, Minister of Labour
"By providing critical support to donors, the province is helping to
increase the number of lives saved through organ donation."
- David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
QUICK FACTS
- Currently, the job-protected leave applies to persons who are
donating all or part of the following organs: kidney, liver, lung,
pancreas and small bowel.
- Donors would have to be employed by the same employer for at least 13
weeks in order to be entitled to the leave.
- There are approximately 1,700 men, women and children waiting for an
organ transplant in Ontario.
- Living organ donors comprise approximately 30 percent of total
transplants.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2009/27/c8217.html
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