From December 17, 2020 until January 10, 2021, the province of Québec is imposing special restrictions to curb activities that are contributing to rising COVID-19 cases.

Although parts of Québec have been at the Level 4-Maximum alert level for several weeks now, COVID-19 cases show no signs of slowing down. Effective December 17, 2020, special measures were applied province-wide, in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

The newly implemented special measures that apply throughout the province include:

• Telework is now mandatory for all office workers throughout the province unless the employer can demonstrate that physical presence is necessary;

• Office parties are not permitted throughout the province.

Effective December 25, 2020, until January 10, 2020, all non-essential commercial businesses throughout the province are required to close. Only authorized commercial enterprises, including grocery stores, pet food and supply stores, transportation and logistics sales, pharmacies, and hardware stores, are permitted to remain open. So-called “big-box” retailers or department stores will be restricted to selling only essential products (where essential products are those that are usually sold by stores on the list of authorized commercial enterprises).

It should be noted that these new restrictions do not impact the manufacturing industry (with the exception of any office work that can be performed remotely).