HR glossary · Leave, health and benefits

Sick leave

Sick leave is job-protected time off when an employee is ill or injured. Provinces set short yearly leaves and longer leaves for serious illness.

Also called: medical leave, illness or injury leave, long-term illness leave

What sick leave means

Sick leave is time an employee can take off work because of their own illness or injury without losing their job. Employment standards laws set the minimum. Many employers offer more through their own policy or a benefits plan.

Most jurisdictions now have two layers. The first is a short leave of a few days a year for everyday illness, which may be partly paid. The second is a longer unpaid leave, measured in weeks, for a serious illness or injury, usually backed by a medical certificate. Ontario and British Columbia both added a longer leave in 2025.

Sick leave protects the job, not the pay. Unless your province requires paid sick days, the law only says you must let the employee take the time and come back. See the paid sick days entry for the paid part.

How it works

Check the service requirement first. Many short sick leaves only apply after a minimum time with you: two consecutive weeks in Ontario, 90 days in British Columbia, 30 days for Manitoba's family leave. The longer leaves have their own rules, and in British Columbia the serious illness leave has no service requirement at all.

Know what counts. Some provinces give a separate sick leave. Others fold personal illness into a broader leave: Manitoba's 3-day family leave and Alberta's 5-day personal and family responsibility leave cover the employee's own health as well as family needs.

Be careful with sick notes. Ontario does not allow employers to require a medical note for its 3 sick days, and British Columbia limits notes for short absences. For the longer leaves, a medical certificate is usually part of the rule. See the medical notes entry.

Track the days or weeks used in the year so you know what is left. Do not count protected sick leave against an employee in an attendance program, and do not end someone's job because they used it. If an employee is off for a long time, issue a Record of Employment when required and start planning the return early.

Sick leave by province

Short and long sick leave entitlements differ a lot. These are the ones we confirmed on official pages.

Where the work is done	The rule
Federal	Up to 10 days of paid medical leave a year, earned at 1 day per month of employment. Covers illness, injury, organ or tissue donation, medical appointments and quarantine.
British Columbia	After 90 days: up to 5 paid and 3 unpaid days a calendar year. Separately, up to 27 weeks of unpaid leave within 52 weeks for a serious illness or injury, with a medical certificate and no service requirement.
Saskatchewan	Job protection for up to 12 days a calendar year for illness or injury that is not serious, and up to 27 weeks in 52 weeks for a serious one, after more than 13 consecutive weeks of service. The Act does not require paid sick leave.
Manitoba	3 unpaid days a year of family leave, which covers personal illness, after 30 days. Up to 17 weeks of unpaid leave in 52 weeks for a serious injury or illness, after 90 days.
Ontario	3 unpaid sick days a year after two consecutive weeks of employment. Since 19 June 2025, up to 27 weeks of unpaid long-term illness leave in 52 weeks, after 13 consecutive weeks, with a certificate.
Quebec	Up to 26 weeks over 12 months for sickness or accident. After 3 months of uninterrupted service, 2 days a year are paid, shared with certain other absences such as organ donation and domestic violence.

Alberta's long-term illness leave length differs between official pages, so check it with the province. We could not confirm the Atlantic provinces or the territories.

Example: Flu season at a London restaurant

Carmen owns a 20-person restaurant in London, Ontario. In January, her line cook Theo calls in sick two days in a row with the flu. He has worked there for eight months and has not used any sick days this year.

Ontario gives 3 unpaid sick days a year after two weeks of employment, and does not let Carmen require a medical note for them. She records the 2 days as sick leave, tells Theo he has 1 left for the year, and asks him to let her know by mid-afternoon whether he can work the next evening.

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Questions about sick leave

How many sick days do employees get in Ontario?

3 unpaid sick days a year after two consecutive weeks of employment. Since 19 June 2025 there is also an unpaid long-term illness leave of up to 27 weeks.

Can I fire someone for being off sick?

Not for using job-protected sick leave. Human rights law also protects workers with a disability, so get advice before acting on long or repeated absences.

Is sick leave paid in Canada?

Only some jurisdictions require paid days: federally regulated employers, British Columbia and Quebec among those we checked. Elsewhere it is unpaid unless your policy says otherwise.

Official sources

General information for Canadian employers, not legal advice. Rules differ by province and territory and change over time, so check with your provincial employment standards office (or the federal Labour Program if you are federally regulated) before you rely on it. See employment standards by province.

Checked against official sources on 4 November 2026.