Providing unpaid leave from work for employees in British Columbia

The BC Employment Standards Act requires employers to grant employees periods of unpaid leave. An employee does not need to work for a specific period to qualify for leave. Listed here are the most common types of leave from work and what you need to know as an employer.

Pregnancy (Maternity) leave

A pregnant employee is entitled up to 17 consecutive weeks of unpaid pregnancy leave. This leave may start no earlier than 13 weeks before the expected birth date and must end no earlier than six weeks after the birth date unless the employee requests a shorter period.

Parental leave for birth and adopting parents

A birth mother who takes pregnancy leave is entitled to up to 61 consecutive weeks of unpaid parental leave. A birth mother must begin her parental leave immediately after her pregnancy leave ends, unless she and the employer agree otherwise. 

A birth mother who does not take pregnancy leave, a birth father, or an adopting parent is entitled to up to 62 consecutive weeks of unpaid parental leave. The leave can begin anytime within 78 weeks of the birth or placement of the child.

Please note: The Act says that a request for pregnancy or parental leave must be made in writing at least four weeks before the proposed start date. However, the courts and the Employment Standards Tribunal have said that failure to give written notice does not affect the employee's entitlement to the leave. 

Family responsibility leave

An employee is entitled to up to 5 days of unpaid leave in each employment year (a year beginning on the date the employee started work) to meet responsibilities related to the care, health, or education of a child under 19 who is in their care. They can also ask for this leave to care for the health of any member of their immediate family. Family responsibility leave does not accumulate from year to year.

Compassionate care leave

An employee can take up to 27 weeks of unpaid leave within a 52-week period to care for or support a terminally ill family member. The employee must obtain a medical certificate which states that the family member is gravely ill with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks. 

Critical Illness or injury leave

An employee is entitled to up to 36 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a child, and up to 16 weeks unpaid leave to care for a family member over the age of 19. 

The employee must provide a medical certificate stating that the health of the family member has changed, and that there is the risk of death. 

Bereavement leave

An employee is entitled to up to 3 days of unpaid leave on the death of a member of the employee's immediate family. These days do not have to be consecutive or start on the date of death. The leave does not need to be for attending a funeral.  

Jury duty

An employee who is required to attend court as a juror is considered to be on unpaid leave for the period of the jury duty.

Reservists' leave

An employee who is a reservist is entitled to 20 days of unpaid leave per calendar year to participate in training. The employee is entitled to unpaid leave for as long as they are:

• deployed to a Canadian Forces operation outside Canada,
• engaged in pre- or post-deployment activities either inside or outside Canada, or
• deployed inside Canada to assist in dealing with an emergency or its aftermath.

The employee must give the employer four weeks' written notice of the date the leave will begin and end. If the employee receives less than four weeks' notice of a deployment, he or she must give the employer as much notice as is practicable.

Important to note

If an employee is on any of the leaves listed above, employment is considered continuous for the purposes of calculating annual vacation and termination entitlements, as well as for pension, medical or other plans of benefit to the employee. Except for reservists' leave, an employer must continue to make payments to any such plans unless the employee chooses not to continue with his or her share of the cost of a plan. 

The employee is entitled to all increases in wages and benefits that the employee would have received if not on leave. An employer may not terminate an employee, or change a condition of employment, because of a leave or jury duty without the employee's written consent. When the leave or jury duty ends, an employee must be returned to his or her former position or to a comparable position. It is the employer's responsibility to contact the employee to make arrangements for the employee's return to work.

For more information on unpaid leave, please see the BC Employment Standards Fact Sheet.

If you need further help, do not hesitate to contact your CFIB Business Advisor at hrnow@cfib.ca or 1-833-568-2342.