CEWS Update

Posted on
April 8, 2020 by

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April 8, 2020

Travis D. McKay
Hillenbrand Kozicki LLP

CEWS UPDATE

This blog is an update to the blog we posted on April 2, 2020 related to COVID-19 funding from the Government of Canada.

This morning, the Federal Government announced that it would be relaxing a few of the eligibility requirements for the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (“CEWS”) That is the 75% wage subsidy.

 

Changes

 

  • Revenue Drop REDUCED from 30% to 15%.

 

Initially the requirement was that an employer had to have seen a drop of 30% in revenue from March 2019 to March 2020 in order to qualify for the first pay period of March 15th to April 11th and a subsequent 30% drop in revenue to qualify for further Pay Periods.

Today, the government announced an employer need only see a 15% drop in revenue to qualify for the CEWS.

 

 

  • Bench Mark Month: January, February OR March 2020

 

Further, the Government announced that in addition to using March 2020 as a benchmark, an employer may use January or February of 2020 as a benchmark for determining eligibility.

So, an employer that has seen a 15% drop in Revenue for any of the following:

March 2020 vs. March 2019, February 2020 or January 2020

Will be eligible to claim the CEWS for the pay period of March 15th to April 11th.

For the further Pay periods the employer will still be required to show a 30% drop.