As noted previously, on January 1, 2022, paid sick leave came into effect for BC employers through amendments to the BC Employment Standards Act. After several months of implementation, the BC provincial government has recently passed some additional changes to the paid sick leave legislation.
Please take note of the following changes:
1. Initially, the legislation entitled employees to 5 paid and 3 unpaid days due to personal illness or injury per “employment year”. This has now changed to “calendar year.” A calendar year is a period of 12 consecutive months beginning on January 1. Eligible employees who start employment part way through the calendar year are entitled to the full 5 paid days and 3 unpaid days even though they have not been employed for a full calendar year. The leave is not pro-rated based on start date, nor does it carry over from year to year if it is not used.
2. For 2022, employees who have not taken any paid sick days are entitled to 5 paid days up to December 31, 2022.
If an eligible employee has already taken part of their 5-day entitlement, those days are counted against and reduce the employee’s 5-day entitlement up to December 31, 2022. If they have used all 5 days, they are not entitled to any additional paid sick days until 2023.
With the original employment year stipulation, there could be the situation where an employee has already received more than 5 paid sick days in 2022 depending on when their anniversary date falls. If an eligible employee has taken more than 5 paid sick days in 2022 already, they are not entitled to any further paid sick days in 2022. The employer cannot recoup or deduct the paid sick days taken in excess of 5 from the employee’s wages since they were legally entitled to those days based on the legislation in force at the time.
A common question we have been asked since the paid sick leave legislation was implemented is:
What if our existing company policy provides employees with 5 (or more) paid personal/sick leave days per year which employees can use for personal illness, a family member’s illness or if they need time off for personal reasons? Does this meet our obligation under the new paid sick leave requirement?
A. The paid sick leave legislation is specifically designated for personal illness or injury of the employee. If employees can use their personal/sick leave days for reasons unrelated to personal illness or injury, the employer would still have an obligation to provide 5 paid sick leave days per calendar year if the employee is subsequently ill or injured. If you already offer paid personal/sick leave days which can be used for reasons unrelated to employee illness or injury, it is recommended that you reserve 5 of those days for employee illness or injury, with the balance used for other reasons.
More detailed information on the paid sick leave legislation in BC can be found in the BC Employment Standards interpretation guide. The BC Employment Standards Branch can also be contacted directly if you have any specific questions.
Posted by Clear HR Consulting on May 13, 2022
