Does Paid Medical Leave Cover a Routine Dental Appointment? – Ask The Expert

Federal paid sick leave covers medical appointments but BC paid sick leave doesn’t.

QUESTION

Do the new paid sick leave laws cover routine dental and other medical appointments?

ANSWER

Yes under federal law; no under BC law.

EXPLANATION

Two jurisdictions have recently adopted laws granting employees paid sick leave.

Federal: The new federal paid sick leave provisions (Canada Labour Code, Section 239) does cover medical appointments. However, the employer also has the right to require employees to take sick leave in increments of at least one day in duration.

BC: BC’s new paid sick leave provisions don’t say anything about medical appointments and they’re presumably not covered, especially if the appointments are routine.

Note that there are 2 jurisdictions where employees have unpaid leave for medical appointments—Federal and Nova Scotia. In Alberta, a case could be made that unpaid personal leave for “the health of the employee” includes medical appointments.