Updated medical leave entitlements for federally regulated employees

Effective December 1, 2022, federally regulated employees have new entitlements to medical leave under the Canada Labour Code (the "CLC"). In this blog post, we provide an overview of these enhanced entitlements.

Paid medical leave:

Below are the entitlements to paid medical leave, at a glance:

• Employees are entitled to 3 paid days after thirty days of continuous employment. For example, existing employees as of December 1, 2022 will have access to their first 3 paid days after completing 30 days of continuous employment, so as of December 31, 2022.
• Thereafter, employees will accrue 1 paid day of medical leave per completed month of continuous employment, up to a maximum of 10 paid days per year.
• Employees are entitled to be paid at their regular wage rate if taking paid medical leave.
• Employees are entitled to roll over unused paid medical leave to subsequent calendar years, however, the number of days rolled over will count towards the maximum of 10 paid days that can be earned each year i.e. employees will not be entitled to more than the 10 paid days each year under the CLC.
• Employees can take paid medical leave due to (a) personal illness or injury; (b) organ or tissue donation, (c) medical appointments during working hours; or (d) quarantine.
• Employers can ask for supporting medical documentation if the medical leave is 5 days or longer.

It is important to note that if an employee has an existing contractual entitlement to sick days or medical leave that would allow the employee to take paid time off in the same circumstances as the paid medical leave under the CLC and meets certain requirements, the contractual entitlement will count towards the employee's paid medical leave under the CLC. Meaning, the employee won't be entitled to an extra 10 paid days of medical leave in addition to their contractual entitlement to paid sick days.

Unpaid medical leave:

In addition to adding new paid medical leave entitlements, the CLC has also been amended to provide federally regulated employees with an increased entitlement to unpaid medical leave. Previously, employees were entitled to 17 weeks of unpaid medical leave. This has now been increased to 27 weeks. Employees may take this unpaid medical leave in the same circumstances as the paid medical leave, i.e. in the case of (a) personal illness or injury, (b) organ or tissue donation, (c) medical appointments during work hours, or (d) quarantine. Supporting medical documentation can be required if the leave is 5 days or longer.

Takeaways:

Whether a cold, the flu, or now, COVID-19, everyone gets sick. These expanded medical leave entitlements provide federally regulated employees with an increased ability to take off work when dealing with health issues. Federally regulated employers are encouraged to make sure their workplace sick day practices align with these new requirements.

If you have questions about your workplace rights, entitlements, or obligations, please reach out to a member of the Lee Workplace Law team.