Act respecting labour standards Chapter IV - Larbour standards (Section 39.1 to 97)

Maximum period

29.1. An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 26 weeks over a period of 12 months, owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence or sexual violence of which the employee has been a victim.

However, an employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks if the employee suffers serious bodily injury during or resulting directly from a criminal offence that renders the employee unable to hold his regular position. In that case, the period of absence shall not begin before the date on which the criminal offence was committed, or before the expiry of the period provided for in the first paragraph, where applicable, and shall not end later than 104 weeks after the commission of the criminal offence.

Employment injury

However, this section does not apply in the case of an employment injury within the meaning of the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (chapter A-3.001).

2002, c. 80, s. 27; 2007, c. 36, s. 5; 2010, c. 38, s. 7; 2018, c. 21, s. 17.

Interpretation

An employee may be absent from work owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence or sexual violence of which the employee has been a victim. The employee may also be absent because the employee has suffered a serious bodily injury due to a criminal offence that renders the employee unable to hold his regular position.

Criminal offence refers to criminal offence as defined in the Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46).

It is important that the serious bodily injury was suffered by the employee at the time of the commission of a criminal offence or that it resulted from such an offence. Bodily injury means a serious physical or mental injury and also includes a pregnancy resulting from the commission of an sexual offence or assault.

The total absences owing to sickness or accident must not exceed 26 weeks over a 12-month period. This 12-month period is calculated starting from the first absence. In the calculation of the maximum period of 26 weeks of absence, an absence owing to another cause, such as a maternity leave, must not be considered. Absence for serious bodily injury resulting from a criminal office that renders the employee unable to hold his or her regular position starts when the criminal offence was committed or at the beginning of the 26-week period and ends no later than 104 weeks after the commission of the criminal offence.

Effective January 1, 2019, the law provides for a maximum of two days of paid absence per calendar year (January 1 to December 31) for the absences provided for in sections 79.1 and 79.7 (see section 79.16 ALS). To be entitled to this paid leave, the employee must have completed three months of continuous services. These days may not be carried forward from one year to the next or cashed out.

Remuneration for the days of absence is calculated in the same way as the indemnity paid for statutory holidays:

1/20 of the wages earned during the four complete weeks of pay preceding the week of the absence, excluding overtime

1/60 of the wages earned during the 12 complete weeks of pay preceding the week of the absence in the case of an employee remunerated in whole or in part on a commission basis

Industrial accidents and occupational diseases

This provision does not refer to absences by reason of an occupational disease, which are already provided for under the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases.

Recourses

An employee who exercises this right benefits from protection against dismissal, suspension, transfer, discrimination or reprisals or any other sanction imposed on him, by way of the recourse stipulated in subparagraph 1) of section 122 ALS. It should be noted that an employee governed by the Act respecting labour relations, vocational training and workforce management in the construction industry (R.S.Q., c. R-20) and senior managerial personnel who exercise the right to be absent because they were the victims of a criminal offence having caused a serious bodily injury also benefit, with respect to a dismissal, suspension, transfer, discriminatory measures or reprisals, or any other sanction imposed on them, from the recourse provided in subsection 1 of section 122 ALS.