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British Columbia Leave & Compensation

All you need to know about employee’s leave, compensation, statutory holidays, vacation and other entitlements under the B.C. Employment Standards Act  

Sick Days:  5 days’ Personal Illness or Injury Leave, aka, Sick Leave, the first 3 days of which are paid for employees with 90 days of employment 

Leaves of Absence (all leaves are unpaid unless specified otherwise):    

  • 27 weeks’ Serious Personal Illness or Injury Leave 
  • 17 consecutive weeks’ Maternity (or Pregnancy) Leave 
  • 62 weeks’ Parental Leave 
  • 5 days’ Family Responsibility Leave to help with the care, health or education of a child under the age of 19 in the employee’s care 
  • 10 days’ plus 15 weeks’ Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave, the first 5 days of which are paid for employees with 3 consecutive months’ service, if the employee or their child or dependent is impacted by domestic or sexual violence  
  • 27 weeks’ Compassionate Care Leave to care for a family member who’s terminally ill 
  • 36 weeks’ Critical Illness or Injury Leave to care for a child family member age 19 or under  
  • 16 weeks’ Critical Illness or Injury Leave to care for an adult family member over age 19  
  • 20 days’ Reservist Leave for a reservist in the Canadian Forces to participate in Canadian Forces training activities 
  • 52 weeks’ Child Disappearance Leave if employee’s child disappears as a probable result of a crime  
  • 104 weeks’ Child Death Leave if employee’s child dies 
  • 3 days’ Bereavement Leave for the death of an immediate family member 
  • Jury Duty Leave for as long as necessary for employee to attend court as a juror 

Vacation: Employee must work 1 full year with same employer before being entitled to vacation time: 

  • 2 weeks’ vacation with pay after 1 year of employment with the same employer, payable at 4% of earnings 
  • 3 weeks’ vacation with pay after 5 years of employment with the same employer, payable at 6% of earnings 

Statutory Holidays: New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, B.C. Day, Labour Day, National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day 

Stat Holiday Pay Eligibility: Employees qualify for stat holiday if they:  

  • Have been employed for 30 calendar days and 
  • Have worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days before the statutory holiday 

Stat Holiday Pay:  

(If worked): Time and a half for hours worked on the holiday for up to 12 hours plus double wages for time worked beyond 12 hours on the holiday plus an average day’s pay 

(If not worked): Average day’s pay 

COMPENSATION   Minimum Wage: $17.85 per hour  

Standard Work Hours: 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, Sunday to Saturday, unless an averaging agreement or variance applies  

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION  Average Workers’ Comp Assessment Rate 2026: $1.55 per $100 assessable payroll Workers’ Comp Maximum Assessable/Insurable Earnings 2026: $127,500