Vacation – Employee returning to work following workplace accident

[Conner Lantz]

#89985

Quebec employer –  An employee had a workplace accident early last year (end of January 2022)  which resulted in her being on medical leave (i.e. CNESST) for the rest of the year. She returned to work in 2023, but is currently on progressive return to work schedule. She has 20 vacation days. However, the vacation bank is low due to the fact that she only worked for a weeks in the previous year (i.e. the reference year, 2022).  Given the low balance in her vacation bank, she would prefer not to take 20 vacation days, instead she would like to reduce the total number of days, i.e. from 20 to 10.
What are the obligations of the employer? 

Request that the employee take the necessary time off regardless of how much is available in the vacation bank. 
Accommodate her request and reduce the total number of vacation days? For example, instead of 20 days, the employee can take 10 days, as each day would be worth more?

Are there any other options available?
Appreciate your feedback on this issue. 

[Conner Lantz]

#89986

I would think the employee doesn’t want to take the 20 days at a reduced payout, but would still like to have some vacation days. According to the law, you do have wiggle room here, so long as it is mutually agreed upon. Because this would be a limited amendment to your policy, we would recommend drafting a memo and both signing off on it, it should state the day adjustment and the payout/day, as well as the term for this change (when does it revert back to normal).

Another option would be to allow the employee to carry a negative balance in their vacation pay, or allow them to contribute a small amount to that fund in each pay period so as to build it up. Some other organizations have just opted to do away with the whole allotment worries and move to a PTO model that is more common in the US.

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