New Leaves of Absence from Work

A new Bill amending the Employment Standards Act has been approved by the Ontario Legislature and is expected to become law in October 2014. The Bill creates additional leaves of absence for Ontario employees.

Soon, employees will be entitled to take three new unpaid leaves of absence. These are:

• Family Caregiver Leave
• Critically Ill Child Care Leave
• Crime-Related Child Death and Disappearance Leave.

The following is a basic outline of these leaves.

Family Caregiver Leave

If a physician, nurse or psychologist provides certificate that your family member has a serious medical condition you could be permitted up to eight weeks of unpaid leave.

Critically Ill Child Leave

If you have been employed for six consecutive months and have a critically ill child, you could be entitled to an unpaid leave of 37-52 weeks depending on the care needed for your child as determined by a physician, nurse or physiologist.

Crime-related Child Death or Disappearance Leave

If your child dies or disappears as the result of an apparent crime, you could be entitled to an unpaid leave of 1-2 years, respectively. This is provided that you and the child were not the perpetrators of the crime.

Any unpaid leave of absence requires notification in writing to the employer.

Alternate rights under the ESA to unpaid leaves of absence, including parental and pregnancy leave, are reviewed in our other blogs.

If you require leave from work and would like to speak with an employment lawyer about your rights, please contact us at [email protected] or 1-888-640-1728 (toll free) or 647-633-9894 (within the GTA).