Under the British Columbia Employment Standards Act (ESA), employees do not have to complete a probationary period before becoming eligible for most statutory leaves. Probation is an employer policy or contractual term and is not an eligibility requirement under the ESA.
Similarly, employees do not have to be permanent or regular employees to qualify for statutory leaves. Fixed-term, temporary, casual, and part-time employees are generally entitled to the same statutory leaves as permanent employees, provided they remain employed when the leave begins and meet any leave-specific requirements.
For most statutory leaves—including pregnancy, parental, bereavement, family responsibility, compassionate care, domestic or sexual violence, jury duty, and reservists’ leave—there is no minimum length of service required. Eligibility is based primarily on the employee meeting the circumstances that give rise to the leave rather than how long they have been employed.
The main exceptions are certain illness-related leaves, which require employees to have completed 90 consecutive days of employment before becoming eligible. Overall, unless a specific leave includes a service requirement, statutory leave entitlements under the BC ESA apply regardless of probationary status or whether the employee is employed on a permanent or fixed-term basis.
-HRInsider staff
