Conciliation and Mediation Services (CMS) continues to carefully monitor the public health advice regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health risk. At present, CMS is operating remotely in alignment with the Province’s advice and our community responsibility to practice social distancing to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Are you still working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? First and foremost, it is essential that those working must adhere to public health advisories. For further advice, the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency has issued tips to trades workers for staying safe while at work.
Click here to access Tips For Staying Safe While Working At Your Trade.
An application portal for these two provincial support programs will be available by Friday, April 10, 2020. All funds will be dispersed by the end of April. For more information and to access the portal when it’s ready, click here: https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/#support
Employers and employees need to take steps to help staff and clients stay healthy and prevent spread of COVID-19. You should also know what to do if you have safety concerns. To that end, the province has created a helpful fact sheet on “working during COVID-19”
Click here to access the “Working During COVID-19” fact sheet.
Wondering what happens if an employee has a positive COVID-19 test? Click for more information on the Province’s process for positive tests and information for COVID-19 in the workplace.
On Tuesday, April 7, 2020, Deputy Minister Duff Montgomery, Department of Labour and Advanced Education issued a letter to CANS offering clarification on a number of industry questions related to COVID-19 emergency measures.
The letter provides a response from Dr. Strang’s Public Health team and Deputy Minister Duff Montgomery’s team at LAE regarding the appropriate level of protection for its workers with respect to the hazards posed by COVID-19 and Orders issued by the Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia.
Gold Seal Certification program new applications suspended April 8 to 30, 2020
The Canadian Construction Association’s (CCA) Gold Seal Certification program, for estimators, foremen, owner’s construction managers, project managers, safety coordinators and superintendents, will be temporarily closed for new applications beginning April 8, and will re-open on May 1, on the Gold Seal website.
Submit your existing Gold Seal application by April 30
Those applicants who meet the Gold Seal Intern (GSI) or Gold Seal Certified (GSC) requirements are invited to update and submit their application for review by the month’s end. The submitted applications will either be approved or the applicants will be given a statement of how many credits they currently have, and what is missing to be approved to write the Gold Seal exam. Access to the applications in the current portal will be removed starting May 1. Those GSC applicants who do not currently meet the requirements can contact the Gold Seal team at goldseal@cca-acc.com to have their application reviewed, once they meet the requirements.
As a reminder:
GSI applicants require one year of experience (or two years in an assistant’s position) in the designation applied for as well as a letter of recommendation from a direct supervisor confirming the length of their employment and duties.
GSC applicants need a minimum of 100 credits to be approved to write the Gold Seal exam. 50 credits (10 per year) can come from experience, 25 from education and training, mandatory education requirements included, and the remaining 25 credits can come from either experience, education and training or both. For more information on the process and requirements, refer to the Gold Seal Certification guide and other materials posted on goldsealcertification.com.
The deadline to submit your GSC application for review for the October 23, 2020 Gold Seal exam is April 30. Read more about the Gold Seal exam.
All positive cases of COVID-19 are reported to Public Health through the lab testing processes. Anyone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 will be contacted by Public Health and they will work to determine who their close contacts are. If co-workers are identified as close contacts, Public Health will follow up with those individuals, typically within 24 hours, with instructions to self isolate. All other employees should continue to practice good hand hygiene and use cough and sneeze etiquette. Physical distance of 2 metres, or six feet, must be maintained in the workplace.
There is no requirement for businesses to close if an employee has tested positive.
Businesses that are open must take the following steps to keep employees and customers healthy:
To clean and disinfect workspaces, wash with soapy water first. Then disinfect using household cleaning products, following the directions on the label, or a solution of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. Disinfect phones, remotes, computers, and other handheld devices with 70% alcohol or wipes.
Grant Thornton has developed the 26-Week Cash Flow Forecast Model that can assist clients with determining their cash flow needs and support in discussions with their bank. It quickly captures a company’s current cash position and forecasts the run rate for the next 26-weeks. Of significant importance, to business owners and banks, is the model incorporates all the latest federal and provincial COVID-19 programs and can do “what-if” analysis quickly and easily. Clients can use it for bank reporting as well as internal cash flow analysis.
Some highlights:
Overall, the model will help to show lenders that an owner understands their expected cash flow, the levers available to manage the business and how the business is fiscally responsible under the current circumstances.
If you could benefit from the above, please do not hesitate to forward along the contact information for the following GT team members:
Sean Stager 902.491.2247 Sean.Stager@ca.gt.com
Louis-Pierre Francoeur 902.491.7546 Louis.Francoeur@ca.gt.com
Jillian Murray 902.491.7745 Jillian.Murray@ca.gt.com
Kevin Fraser 902.491.7797 Kevin.Fraser@ca.gt.com
Yesterday, April 2, 2020, the Province announced two new programs valued at an estimated $40 million to further support small businesses and workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These two new programs are the COVID-19 Worker Emergency Bridge and the Small Business COVID-19 Impact Grant.
The Province has made an additional $10 million in credit available through the Program as part of its COVID-19 response efforts to support small businesses, creating a new opportunity for our members experiencing financial uncertainty to access support.
New loans and lines of credit can be issued through the Program, with up to $100,000 of the funds being guaranteed to the lender by the Province until June 30th. In addition, businesses with existing loans under the Program are now eligible for up to a 90-day deferral on principle and interest payments.
You can find details on the small business loan program here.