Yes, since your company does not have a specific policy for personal days, you can require the employee to use a vacation day instead. However, before making a decision, consider the following:

Check Employment Contracts & Jurisdictional Laws – Ensure that there are no legal requirements in your jurisdiction that entitle employees to personal days or leave flexibility.

Consistency & Fairness – If other employees have been allowed to take personal days without using vacation time, denying this request may seem unfair or inconsistent.

Employee Morale & Flexibility – While you are within your rights to ask the employee to use a vacation day, consider whether offering flexibility or implementing a new option for employees to take personal days might improve employee satisfaction and workplace culture.

Clarifying a Policy Moving Forward – If personal day requests are becoming common, it may be helpful to establish a formal policy to avoid confusion in the future. If you need any help with that policy, we have a handy AI Assistant on the HRInsider site that will create one for you and allow you to download it as a Word doc or PDF format.

I hope this helps!
-HRInsider Staff

I’ll do a quick run-down of the various requirements in each of those jurisdictions for you:

Ontario:
Under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), employees are entitled to several types of unpaid, job-protected leaves, including:​
Sick Leave: Up to 3 days per calendar year for personal illness, injury, or medical emergency. ​
Family Responsibility Leave: Up to 3 days per calendar year for illness, injury, medical emergency, or urgent matters concerning certain family members. ​

These leaves are distinct from vacation days. Since your company offers 5 sick days, which exceeds the ESA minimum, and does not have a policy on personal days, you can require the employee to use a vacation day for personal reasons not covered under the ESA. However, it’s advisable to ensure consistency and fairness in applying such decisions.​

British Columbia:
The BC Employment Standards Act provides for various job-protected leaves, including:​
Illness or Injury Leave: After 90 consecutive days of employment, employees are entitled to up to 5 paid days and 3 unpaid days per year for personal illness or injury. ​
Family Responsibility Leave: Up to 5 unpaid days per year to attend to the care, health, or education of a child or immediate family member. ​
There isn’t a specific provision for personal days unrelated to illness or family responsibilities. Therefore, in BC, you can require an employee to use a vacation day for personal matters not covered by these leaves.​

Quebec:
Quebec’s Act Respecting Labour Standards provides for:​
Absence for Family or Parental Reasons: Employees may be entitled to leaves for various family or parental reasons, but there isn’t a specific provision for personal days unrelated to these reasons. ​
In the absence of a specific personal leave provision, you can require an employee in Quebec to use a vacation day for personal reasons not covered by the Act.

In short, I would stick with my original advice – you’re going about this the right way but ensure you have measures in order in case you need to create a policy to address increased personal day requests! It sounds like you’re going about this the compliant way and should come across no issues.

-HRInsider Staff