Family Caregiver Leave in Ontario

How much time off is an employee entitled to in order to look after a sick family member?

However, both employers and employees must be mindful of the fact that while Personal Emergency Leave was expanded as a result of Bill 148, and then removed as a result of Bill 47, there are several other forms of protected leave including:

• Pregnancy Leave [sections 46 – 47 of the ESA]
• Parental Leave [sections 48 - 49]
• Family Medical Leave [section 49.1]
• Organ Donor Leave [section 49.2]
• Family Caregiver Leave [section 49.3]
• Critical Illness Leave [section 49.4]
• Child Death Leave [section 49.5]
• Crime-Related Child Disappearance Leave [section 49.6]
• Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave [section 49.7]
• Emergency Leave, Declared Emergencies [section 50.1]
• Reservist Leave [section 50.2]

Bill 148 and Changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000

On November 22, 2017, the Ontario Government passed Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, S.O. 2017 C.22. The Bill received Royal Assent on November 27, 2017.

This post focuses primarily on the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the implications to Ontario employment law, rather than labour law.

UPDATE: Nearly one year later to the day, November 21, 2018, the Ontario Government, now under a Conservative government, passed Bill 47, the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018, S.O. 2018, C.14. A major effect of Bill 47 was to undo much, but not all of what had been introduced by Bill 148. For a summary of the changes made by Bill 47, see my post Bill 47 - The Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018.

Working Notice Inappropriate for Employees on Disability Leave

Few things in law are certain. Even fewer things in life are certain. In fact, it is said that only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. Allow me to submit that there is one more thing in life of which you can be certain: your mother is, was, and will be correct.

Among the myriad things about which your mother was correct is the fact that if you were too sick to go to school, then you were too sick to go out and play once your friends got home from school.

I raise this tautology, actually a repetition of an argument that I made in paper that I authored in 2010 titled Sick of Work? The Legal Minefield of Workplace Burnout, in respect of the case of McLeod v. 1274458 Ontario Inc., 2017 ONSC 4073, which held that working notice was inappropriate for an employee absent from work on medical leave.

Entitlement to Bereavement Leave in Ontario

How much paid bereavement leave is an employee entitled to in Ontario? And what constitutes “evidence reasonable in the circumstances” to demonstrate entitlement to statutory bereavement leave?

If you are reading this post, you are likely reading this at an unfortunate time in your life or that of someone close to you.