Time off for sickness and personal emergencies

The ESA gives some workers time off:

• when they are sick or a family member is sick, and
• for certain kinds of personal emergencies.

The time off is called a leave of absence or a leave.

You may be able to take the following short leaves of absence each calendar year:

• 3 days of sick leave
• 3 days of family responsibility leave
• 2 days of bereavement leave
• 10 days plus 15 weeks of domestic or sexual violence leave

A calendar year means between January 1 and December 31. But you get the same number of days each year even if you started working for your employer part of the way through the year.

If you take only part of a day, your employer can count it as one of your leave days. For example, you might go to work and leave early because you are sick. If this happens, your employer can count this as one of your 3 days of sick leave for the year.

Getting paid while on leave

The ESA says that:

• you have the right to be paid for the first 5 days of domestic or sexual violence leave each year
• your employer does not have to pay you for any other time that you take as a leave

But you might have the right to be paid if:

• you are in a union
• you have a workplace policy or employment contract that gives you this right

Sick leave

You may be able to take sick leave if you have worked for your employer for at least 2 weeks in a row.

You can use up to 3 days of sick leave if you:

• are sick or injured
• have a medical emergency

A medical emergency includes surgery set up in advance. But you must need it for medical reasons.

Your employer does not have the right to know about your medical condition or treatment.

Your employer can ask for “reasonable” proof that you need to take a sick leave. But they cannot force you to give them a medical note. Read more in Proving you need a leave.

Leaves for a family emergency or death

If you have worked for your employer for at least 2 weeks in a row, you may be able to take:

• family responsibility leave
• bereavement leave

Family responsibility leave

You can use up to 3 days of family responsibility leave because a family member:

• is sick or injured
• has a medical emergency
• has an “urgent matter”

Something is an urgent matter if:

• it was not planned and is out of your control, and
• there could be serious problems if nothing is done to deal with it.

For example, it might be an urgent matter if your babysitter cancels and there is no one to look after your child.

Bereavement leave

You can use up to 2 days of bereavement leave because a family member has died.

Who is a family member

The ESA includes the following people as family members for family responsibility leave and bereavement leave:

• your spouse or common-law partner
• your child or your spouse’s child, including a stepchild or foster child
• your child’s spouse
• your grandchild or your spouse’s grandchild, including a step-grandchild
• your brother or sister
• your parent or spouse’s parent, including a step-parent or foster parent
• your grandparent or spouse’s grandparent, including a step-grandparent
• a relative who depends on you to help or care for them

Domestic or sexual violence leave

To get domestic or sexual violence leave, you must have worked for your employer for at least 13 weeks in a row.

You may be able to take the leave if you or your child who is younger than 18 has:

• experienced domestic or sexual violence
• been threatened with domestic or sexual violence

Your child includes a stepchild, a foster child, and a child you are the legal guardian of.

There are 2 domestic or sexual violence leaves you may be able to take each calendar year. One lets you take one or more days off at a time. And the other lets you take time off in periods of weeks. This means that you may be able to take:

• up to 10 days, and
• up to 15 weeks.

These are the only reasons for taking domestic or sexual violence leave:

• to get medical care because of an injury or disability caused by the violence
• to get help from a victim services organization
• to get professional counselling
• to move, even for a short time
• to deal with the police or the legal system because of the violence

The ESA says that you have the right to be paid for the first 5 days of domestic or sexual violence leave each year.

Proving you need a leave

Tell your employer as soon as you know that you need a leave. If you have to start your leave before talking to your employer, contact them as soon as you can to say:

• why you need the leave, and
• for how long.

If you speak to your employer in person or by phone, send an email or text message, or give them a note right after. This is to confirm when you spoke and what you said.

Your employer can require you to prove that you need a leave of absence. But they can only ask you for proof that is “reasonable in the circumstances”. What is reasonable depends on your situation, for example:

• why you need the leave
• how long you need the leave to be
• any past leaves you had or periods when you were away from work
• whether you can get proof of why you need the leave
• how much it would cost to get proof

Proof for a sick leave

The law says that your employer cannot require you to give them a medical note from:

• a doctor
• a nurse
• a psychologist

They could do this before October 28, 2024.

Your employer can only require other proof for your sick leave. For example, they can ask for a hospital bracelet or a receipt from a drug store.

They can also ask for notes from other types of health-care workers, such as a physiotherapist, social worker, or midwife.

Proof for a family responsibility leave

For a family responsibility leave, your employer might ask you to tell them:

• the name of your family member
• how your family member is related to you
• the reason you need to be away from work

If your family member is sick or injured, your employer does not have the right to know details about their medical condition or treatment.

Examples of proof you might use for a family responsibility leave include:

• a letter from your child’s school
• a receipt from a drug store
• a police report

Proof for bereavement leave

To prove you need bereavement leave, you might have to show a death certificate, death notice, or obituary.

Proof for domestic or sexual violence leave

To prove you need domestic or sexual violence leave, you might have to show:

• police reports
• court documents
• a letter from a health professional or a counsellor

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