Illness and Injury (British Columbia)

[Jennifer MacIntosh]

#92915

Forum: Community

In 2022 the BC Employment Standards Act (ESA) introduced Bill 19 which states that after 90 days of employment, employees can take up to 5 paid days and 3 unpaid days of job-protected leave per calendar year.

Bill 19 changed the Act so that unionised employers must provide the minimum sick leave requirements, regardless of whether the collective agreement as a whole meets or exceeds those requirements.

We are a unionised environment and we pay our part-time and casual employees 15% in-lieu for sick and vacation leave. The in-lieu payment exceeds the ESA minimum. Based on the new wording to BC’s ESA, do we need to pay our employees 5 sick days plus the 15% in-lieu?

Your help clarifying the wording would be appreciated.

[Haley O’Halloran]

#92917

Hi there! Thank you for your question. Whether the employee is part-time or full-time, your company must provide them with up to 5 days of paid sick leave per year, and you must pay this employee their regular wages for those days. Employees are also entitled to 3 more days of sick leave, but those would be unpaid. Your employees are not entitled to any further compensation during sick days, and this includes a 15% in-lieu. Therefore, you only owe your employees a maximum of 5 paid days of sick leave – nothing else. In-lieu often refers to a certain percentage of payment given after providing a termination notice, so if these employees are sticking around, you shouldn’t worry about that.

Hope that helps!
-HR Insider Staff

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