Life isn’t always the same, and just as you have good times, there might be times when life might not seem going your way. These times are what are known as the bad or tough times, but the good thing about life is that just as the good times aren’t supposed to stick around, the same is for the bad times; they pass eventually. Life may be difficult for different reasons for some people; the sickness or health issues of a loved one is certainly something that nobody wants and could end up taking its toll on a person. In such cases, Ontario, under the ESA or Employment Standards Act, allows for employees to take what is called compassionate leave, which will be the topic of discussion in this blog post, aside from the qualification criteria for compassionate leave in Ontario.
In this blog post, we will look at who qualifies for compassionate leave in Ontario, but first, for people who may not be in the know of ESA and what compassionate leave might include in it, we will start off by explaining some of the basics and the particulars of compassionate leave in Ontario.
Compassionate Leave In Ontario: The Basics
As the name suggests, compassionate leave in Ontario refers to the leaves that are mandated by each and every employer in Ontario under the ambit of the ESA. It refers to the leave that is granted to an employee who may have to tend to a sick family member or relative. While the particulars of the sickness of the relative or family member will be discussed later on in the eligibility section of this blog, it is important for us to make this point.
Since taking care of someone who might be terminally ill or extremely ill can take its toll on a person, affecting not just their mental health but also their physical health as well as their ability to focus on work or other tasks, a compassionate leave is designed to allow employees to take time off to tend to and care for a sick family member without worrying about losing their job. This means that employers are mandated to accept it as valid reason for time off, provided that said employee conforms to all the requirements that make them eligible to avail time off under the umbrella of compassionate leave.
Lets now look at the particulars of compassionate leave in Ontario under the ESA.
Compassionate leave in Ontario: the particulars
In this section of the blog, we will look at some of the particulars of compassionate leave in Ontario, first and foremost of which is some of the eligibility requirements that govern when and what requirements need to be fulfilled in order for a person and their situation to be considered eligible for compassionate leave in Ontario, under the guidelines as set forth by the ESA.
Medical condition: The first part of this eligibility refers to the medical condition of the family member, which is described as ‘a family member with a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death within a specified period’. It is important to note here that this needs to be supported by paperwork attesting to the seriousness or the gravity of the situation.
Employment particulars: This particular section is concerned not with say, the duration of employment, but which types of employees are covered under the ESA, allowing them to avail the compassionate leave provided. While all the employees as defined by the ESA are covered, this includes ‘full-time, part-time, permanent and contractual employees. Exceptions include certain students in work-related programmes, employees working under federal jurisdiction, and certain professions, which include some such as doctors or lawyers’. It is important to note here that federal employees come under the ambit of the Canada Labour Code and not Ontario’s ESA.
Relationship with ill member: To ensure that the compassionate leave isn’t misused, their needs to be a specific relationship between the employee (in this case the applicant) and the ill person in question. According to the guidelines laid down by the ESA, eligible family members for whom compassionate leave is allowed are ‘spouse, parent, step-parent, foster parent, child, step-child, foster child, grandparent or step-grandparent, grandchild or step-grandchild, sibling or step-sibling’. In this case, it is important to note here that the ESA also covers any other relative who may be dependent on the employee for care or assistance, as per documentation from a certified source.
Documentation: As explained beforehand, documentation is important for cases involving the use of compassionate leaves, which is where this requirement comes in. Any employee looking to apply for compassionate leave under the requisites of the ESA needs to provide valid medical documentation that validates the severity of the condition of the family member in question. Furthermore, the employee may also need to provide documentation that establishes their relationship with the ill person, for example, a spouse could present a marriage certificate, attesting to their relationship.
Now, let’s look at job-specific requisites that need to be confirmed before an employee may put forth a request for compassionate leave.
Eligibility requirements for employees
For employees, besides the requisites listed above, they need to have clocked in a certain number of hours as well as have access to other factors that may be crucial in determining the outcome for your request of financial support during the compassionate leave, which is also mandated by the ESA under the Compassionate Care Benefits, which is supposed to provide up to 55 percent of an employee’s weekly wage, although not more than CAD668 per week. Let’s take a quick look at the eligibility requirements for financial support during this period of compassionate leave.
Hours worked: The employee needs to have worked a certain number of hours before they might be considered eligible for receiving financial support during the entire time period of their compassionate leave. This number usually amounts to 600 hours within the qualifying period, which is within the last year or 52 weeks, or since the last claim that the employee put forth for EI.
Documentation (with time period): The employee seeking compassionate leave must also provide a medical certificate from a qualified health professional which indicates that said family member has a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death within the upcoming 26 weeks.
In a nutshell,
Compassionate leaves allow an employee to care for a terminally ill or seriously ill individual without worrying about losing their job, and, should they comply with other requirements as set forth by the ESA, they might even get financial benefits that allows them to care for the sick individual without posing any issue to their financial, mental or physical health. All in all, compassionate leaves are a great incentive mandated by the ESA to help individuals cope with the sickness of a loved one.
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