OTTAWA – Employers will have to cover the cost of 10 days of paid sick leave as of December 1, 2022.
Canada’s federal government added this to the Canada Labour Code, despite an outcry from business owners who recognized the downloading of costs from the government onto company payrolls, and announced their concerns about workers potentially taking advantage of the extra two working weeks as supplementary paid holiday time.
The changes will apply to all federally regulated private sector workplaces. The federally regulated private sector comprises workplaces from a broad range of industries, including interprovincial air, rail, road and marine transportation; banks; and postal and courier services. There are approximately 19,000 employers in federally regulated industries, including federal Crown corporations, that together employ 945,000 people (or 6% of all Canadian employees).
The final Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Made Under the Canada Labour Code (Medical Leave with Pay) outline essential elements of the new paid sick leave provisions. This includes, among other things, the following:
- As of December 31, 2022, employees who have been continuously employed for at least 30 days will have access to their first three days of paid sick leave. As of February 1, 2023, employees will acquire a fourth day and will continue to accumulate one day a month up to a maximum of 10 days per year.
- Employers can request a medical certificate if an employee is absent for five days or more in a row.
- Employees on paid sick leave who are paid on a basis other than time, such as salespeople paid by commission, will be entitled to the regular rate of wages.
The Government hosted information sessions in November, and guidance documents are available online to help stakeholders prepare for the coming into force of these changes on December 1.
Paid sick leave (medical leave with pay) is a paid job-protected leave under Part III of the Canada Labour Code that provides employees in the federally regulated private sector with up to 10 days of leave per year. Employees also currently have access to unpaid medical leave, which currently provides up to 17 weeks if they are unable to work as a result of illness, injury, organ or tissue donation, or attending medical appointments, and up to 16 weeks of leave as a result of quarantine. The Government of Canada is currently working to increase the maximum length of unpaid medical leave available to 27 weeks under the Code to align with the upcoming extension to the Employment Insurance sickness benefits (from 15 to 26 weeks).
Statistics Canada reports that, in 2019, Canadian workers were absent an average of 8.5 days for illness or disability. In a given year, some employees will require no paid sick leave, while others will require 10 days or more. Providing up to 10 days of paid sick leave will cover the needs of the majority of employees.
