Under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) and/or the Human Rights Code, employees are entitled to “protected” leaves of absences. Some examples are Personal Emergency Leave days, Maternity/Parental leave and Compassionate Leaves.
“Protected” leave simply means that if an employee exercises their right to take one of these leaves, their right to return to their current job and wage are protected under law. This simply means that if an employee is off, the employer can’t make significant detrimental changes to the job or wage that the employee had when they went off work.
Are there “unprotected leaves”? Yes! For example, in cases where an employee has used all of their vacation or sick time, and they request an unpaid leave of absence, this leave is not protected under the ESA and likely would not be protected under Human Rights either.
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can an employer give you a attendance point if a Dr. wrote you out of work?
Yes they can discipline workers if they do not comply with requests for information and attempts to return to work. This is a very complex issue, you would be best to ask the Ministry of Labour for guidance; or a lawyer.
I fall ill at work and I have to leave do I just tell my employer I am using protected leave? Can I get an attendance point for leaving because I am sick? Just curious
Hi Aiden, I am not sure what is meant by “attendance point”… but if you mean can they discipline you for going home sick, the answer is NO. Best to see a doctor and get a note explaining your illness, but basically yes you can tell the employer that you are ill and want to use one of your unpaid “sick” days as per the Employment Standards Act. If you have already used up these days, then you can still take the time off work but it is not “protected” leave under the ESA. You are always protected by the Human Rights Code (disability) to take this time off.