Proposed Family Caregiver Leave

The McGuinty Government intends to introduce legislation today that would, if passed, provide unpaid job-protected leave of up to eight weeks per year to an employee to care for a sick or injured loved one.

This proposed Family Caregiver Leave would apply to all employees, whether full-time, part-time, permanent, or contract, who are covered by the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

If passed, caregivers would be eligible for the leave to care for:

• Their spouse.
• A parent, step-parent, or foster parent of the employee or the employee's spouse.
• A child, step-child, or foster child of the employee or the employee's spouse.
• A grandparent, step-grandparent, grandchild, or step-grand-child of the employee or the employee's spouse.
• The spouse of a child of the employee.
• The employee's brother or sister.
• A relative of the employee who is dependent on the employee for care or assistance.

To be eligible for the proposed new Family Caregiver Leave, an employee would be required to have a medical certificate from a qualified health practitioner stating that the employee's family member has a serious medical condition. The employee would have to produce the medical certificate if requested by their employer.

The legislation to be proposed would build on the existing Family Medical Leave which currently provides leave to provide care or support to certain individuals if the individual has a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death occurring within a period of 26 weeks. 

The proposed Family Caregiver Leave would be in addition to the existing Family Medical Leave.