How many sick days are employees entitled to in Ontario?
Q: How many sick days can I take if I am sick? Is it true that I no longer need to provide my employer with a medical note?
A: Under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), workers with at least two weeks of service are entitled to a minimum of three days of sick leave (sick days) without pay for “a personal illness, injury or medical emergency.” Sick days are unpaid by default under the ESA unless the employment agreement (or company policies) provide a greater right/benefit than the ESA, in which case that greater right prevails. (Note: additional rights to medical/disability leave exist under the Human Rights Code and/or other ESA leave provisions.)
For instance, if a contract of employment provides 10 paid sick days, then the contract will govern, as opposed to the minimum three unpaid days.
An employer may choose to require an employee to provide evidence reasonable in the circumstances establishing that the employee is entitled to take the sick days. However, as of Oct. 28, 2024, the ESA now prohibits employers from asking employees for medical certificates from a “qualified health practitioner” as evidence.
A “qualified health practitioner” has been defined in the ESA as follows:
(a) a person who is qualified to practise as a physician, a registered nurse or a psychologist under the laws of the jurisdiction in which care or treatment is provided to the employee, or
(b) in the prescribed circumstances, a member of a prescribed class of health practitioners.
This new amendment is meant to take some of the burden off our health-care system. It may also be a recognition of the sad fact that many people do not have a family doctor and cannot get medical notes easily.
Employers can still ask for other reasonable evidence, just not medical notes. If an employee takes a paid or unpaid leave of absence under an employment contract (in circumstances for which they would also be entitled to take a ESA sick leave), the employee is deemed to have taken an ESA sick leave. In other words, the medical-note prohibition is applicable to all sick days.
Employees wanting to take sick days are required to advise their employer that they will be doing so, and if they must begin the leave before advising the employer then the employee “shall advise the employer of the leave as soon as possible after beginning it.”
This article was originally published by The Hamilton Spectator.
