Quebec Employment Law

Duration of Annual Leave – An employee shall be entitled to annual leave in the below manner : 

• • • Less than one year of uninterrupted service with the same employer during that period – entitled to an uninterrupted paid leave for a duration determined at the rate of one working day for each month of uninterrupted service, for a total leave not exceeding two weeks.
    • 1 year to less than 3 years of uninterrupted service with the same employer during that period – entitled to a paid annual leave of a minimum duration of 2 consecutive weeks. Can get an additional 1 week of leave without pay. Such additional leave need not follow immediately. 
    • 3 years or more of uninterrupted service with the same employer during that period – entitled to a paid annual leave of a minimum duration of 3 consecutive weeks.

At the employee’s request, the employer may allow them to take all or part of their annual leave during the reference year. The proportion of the indemnity that will then be paid is determined by the employee and the employer.  

Taking of Annual Leave – An employer cannot impose the division of the annual leave period. However, an employee who has more than one week of annual leave may choose to divide their vacation into 2 periods. Their employer may refuse to divide the annual leave period only if they close their business during the annual leave period or for a longer period. To divide their annual leave into more than 2 periods, for example into 8 Mondays, the employee must have their employer’s consent. Annual Leave of 1 week or less cannot be divided.

Reference Period for Annual Leave – Annual Leave accumulates over a period of 12 months, called the “reference year”. The worker must take their annual leave within 12 months of the end of the reference year. In most cases, the reference year runs from May 1 to April 30. The period may be different if the employer, a decree, or a collective agreement sets other dates.

Annual Leave Pay – 

• • • • Less than one year of uninterrupted service with the same employer during that period –  equal to 4% of the gross wages of the employee during the reference year. 
      • 1 year to less than 3 years of uninterrupted service with the same employer during that period – equal to 4% of the gross wages of the employee during the reference year. 
      • 3 years or more of uninterrupted service with the same employer during that period – equal to 6% of the gross wages of the employee during the reference year. 

Overtime and Holiday Pay are included for the purposes of calculating Annual Leave Pay. Annual leave pay is given before the start of the annual leave. 

Timing of Annual Leave – The employer chooses the annual leave period for their employees. They must inform them of the dates of their annual leave at least 4 weeks in advance. The employee must receive their annual leave pay in a lump sum before they start their annual leave or at the time of the current pay covering the period of their annual leave.

A compensatory indemnity may not be paid to an employee to replace their annual leave period, unless:

• • • • • a collective agreement or a decree contains a specific provision to this effect
        • the establishment closes for 2 weeks during the vacation and a worker entitled to 3 weeks asks to have the last week replaced by an indemnity

The annual leave must be taken within 12 months following the end of the reference year, except where a collective agreement or a decree allows it to be deferred until the following year. The annual leave may also be divided into more than two periods where requested by the employee, provided the employer gives consent. However, a leave not exceeding one week shall not be divided.

Annual Leave coinciding with Public Holiday – An employee who is on annual leave and it coincides with the statutory holiday is entitled to holiday pay for such days or compensatory leave, at the option of the employer.

An employee’s annual leave may be deferred to the following year only if, at the end of the 12-month period following the reference year, they are absent or on leave:

• • • • • • owing to a non–work-related accident or illness
          • for organ or tissue donation for transplant
          • because of domestic or sexual abuse
          • owing to serious bodily injury arising out of or resulting from a criminal offence against them
          • for family or parental reasons, including absence due to the state of health of a person for whom they act as a caregiver.

Act Respecting Labour Standards, §66-76; Amended by Bill 176 §11-12.

Duration of Leave: A pregnant employee is entitled to maternity leave without pay of a maximum duration of 18 continuous weeks. An employee may request the employer for a longer maternity leave.

The maternity leave shall not begin before the 16th week preceding the expected date of delivery and shall not end later than 20 weeks after the week of delivery.

The parental leave may be added to the maternity leave. The employees may spread the maternity leave before or after the date of delivery as they wish.

If the delivery takes place after the expected date, the employee is entitled to at least 2 weeks of maternity leave after the delivery.

Pregnancy Check-Up Leave – An employee may be absent from work without pay for a medical examination related to the pregnancy or for an examination related to the pregnancy carried out by a health professional authorized for that purpose.

Notice requirement and Medical Certificate – The employee is required to provide the employer a 3 weeks written notice, stating the date on which the leave will begin and the date on which the employee will return to work. The notice must be accompanied by a medical certificate attesting to the pregnancy and the expected date of delivery. 

Termination of pregnancy – In case of termination of pregnancy before the beginning of the 20th week before the expected date of delivery, the employee is entitled to special maternity leave without pay for a period of no longer than 3 weeks unless a longer time is prescribed in the medical certificate of the employee. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.4-81.9.

Parents of a new-born child, and a person who adopts a child, are entitled to unpaid parental leave of not more than 65 consecutive weeks.

Parental leave may not begin before the week the child is born or, in the case of adoption, the week the child is entrusted to the employee within the framework of an adoption procedure or the week the employee leaves his work to go to a place outside Québec in order that the child is entrusted to him. It shall end not later than 78 weeks after the birth or, in the case of adoption, 78 weeks after the child was entrusted to the employee. Parental leave may end at the latest 104 weeks after the birth or, in the case of adoption, 104 weeks after the child was entrusted to the employee. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.10-81.11.

An employee is entitled to an unpaid paternity leave of not more than 5 consecutive weeks, on the birth of his child. The paternity leave shall not begin before the week of the birth of the child and shall not end later than 78 weeks after the week of the birth.

Paternity leave may be taken after giving written notice of not less than three weeks to the employer, stating the expected date of the leave and that of the return to work. However, the notice may be shorter if the birth of the child occurs before the expected date.

An absence for paternity leave during the reference year does not reduce the length of an employee’s annual leave. The employee is entitled to an indemnity that is equal, depending on his length of uninterrupted service, to 2 or 3 times the weekly average of the wages earned during the reference year. It should be noted that the employee does not accumulate vacation pay while on parental leave. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.2-81.2.1.

An employee may be absent from work for 5 working days at the birth of his child, the adoption of a child, or where there is a termination of pregnancy in or after the twentieth week of pregnancy. The first 2 days of absence shall be remunerated. This leave may be divided into days at the request of the employee. It may not be taken more than fifteen days after the child arrives at the residence of its father or mother or after the termination of pregnancy. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.1; Amended by Bill 176 §32.

An employee may be absent from work, for 10 working days per year to fulfill obligations relating to the care, health, or education of the employee’s child or the child of the employee’s spouse, or because of the state of health of a relative or a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver.

The first two days taken annually shall be compensated with an indemnity equal to 1/20 of the wages earned during the 4 complete weeks of pay preceding the week of the leave, excluding overtime and any adjustments as may be required. The employee becomes entitled to such remuneration upon completing 3 years of uninterrupted service even if they were absent previously. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.7; Amended by Bill 176 §21.

An employee who is also a reservist of the Canadian Forces may be absent from work, without pay, for one of the following reasons:

• • • If the employee is credited with 12 months of uninterrupted service, to take part in an operation of the Canadian Forces outside Canada, for a maximum period of 18 months;
    • To take part in an operation of the Canadian Forces in Canada whose purpose is to provide assistance in the case of a major disaster;
    • To take part in the annual training for the period prescribed by regulation or, if no such period is prescribed, for a period of not more than 15 days; or
    • To take part in any other operation of the Canadian Forces, in the cases, on the conditions and for the period prescribed by regulation.

If the absence of an employee could endanger the life, health, or security of other employees or the population or cause the destruction or serious deterioration of certain property or in a case of superior force, or if the absence is inconsistent with the employee’s professional code of ethics, this leave shall not apply. 

Notice Requirement – In order to apply for the leave, an employee must give to the employer advance written notice of not less than 4 weeks of the date on which the absence is to begin, the reason for it, and its duration. The employee may return to work before the expected date after giving the employer written notice of not less than 3 weeks. On request, an employee must provide the employer with any document justifying the employee’s absence.

An employee who is absent for one of the reasons given above, for a period greater than 12 weeks may not be absent again for one of those reasons before the expiry of a period of 12 months from the date of the return to work. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.17.1 – 81.17.5.

An employee is entitled to unpaid leave of not more than 26 weeks over a period of 12 months, owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence or sexual violence of which the employee has been a victim.

The first two days of absence owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence, sexual violence or crime will be paid.

However, an employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks of unpaid leave, if the employee suffers serious bodily injury during or resulting directly from a criminal offense that renders the employee unable to hold his regular position. In that case, the period of absence shall not begin before the date on which the criminal offense was committed, or before the expiry of the period, where applicable, and shall not end later than 104 weeks after the commission of the criminal offense. This does not apply in case of an employment injury respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases.

An employer is prohibited from dismissing, suspending, or transferring an employee who has 3 months’ service for the reason of absence due to illness or accident, provided the absence is for not more than 17 weeks within a 12-month period. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.1; Amended by Bill 176 § 33 & 34.

An employee is entitled to unpaid leave of not more than 16 weeks over a period of 12 months in order for them to stay with a relative or a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver.

Where the relative or person is a minor child, the period of absence is not more than 36 weeks over a period of 12 months. However, if a minor child of the employee has a serious and potentially mortal illness, attested by a medical certificate, the employee is entitled to an extension of the absence, which shall end at the latest 104 weeks after the beginning thereof.

The first two days of absence per year taken for such reasons are paid to employees who have three months of continuous service.

An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 27 weeks over a period of 12 months where he must stay with a relative, other than their minor child, or a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver, as attested by a professional working in the health and social services sector and governed by the Professional Code, because of a serious and potentially mortal illness, attested by a medical certificate. An employee is entitled to an extension of the period of 16 weeks of absence which shall end not later than 104 weeks after the beginning of that period if the employee must stay with his minor child who suffered the serious bodily injury during or resulting directly from a criminal offense that renders the child unable to carry on regular activities. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.8, 79.8.1 – 79.9; Amended by Bill 176 §22 & 23.

An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks if the employee’s minor child has disappeared. If the child is found before the expiry of the period of absence, that period shall end on the 11th day that follows the day on which the child is found.

An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks by reason of the death of the employee’s minor child. An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks if the employee’s spouse, father, mother or child of full age commits suicide.

An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks if the death of the employee’s spouse or child of full age occurs during or results directly from a criminal offense. The employee must notify their employer of their absence as soon as possible. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.10; Amended by Bill 176 §24-25.

An employee would be entitled to 2 paid working days of absence in the case of the death or the funeral of the employee’s spouse, child (or the child of the employee’s spouse), father, mother, brother, or sister. He may also be absent from work, without pay, for 4 more days on such occasion. An employee may be absent from work for one day, without pay, by reason of the death or the funeral of a son-in-law, daughter-in-law, one of his grandparents or grandchildren, or of the father, mother, brother, or sister of his spouse. The employee must notify their employer of their absence as soon as possible. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.11; Amended by Bill 176 §26, 30.

A period of absence shall not begin before the date on which the criminal offense that caused the serious bodily injury was committed or before the date of the death or disappearance and shall not end later than 104 weeks after that date. However, during the period of absence, the employee may return to work intermittently or on a part-time basis if the employer consents to it. If during the same 104-week period, a new event occurs, affecting the same child and giving entitlement to a new period of absence, the maximum period of absence for those two events may not exceed 104 weeks from the date of the first event. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.15; Amended by Bill 176 §29.

An employee is entitled to paid leave of 1 working day for their wedding or civil union. An employee is also entitled to unpaid leave on the day (1 day of absence) of the wedding or civil union of their child, father, mother, brother, or sister or of a child of their spouse. 

An employee must inform their employer not less than 1 week prior to their absence. Act Respecting Labour Standards, § 81. 

An employee is entitled to 4 consecutive hours not counting the time normally allowed for meals for the purpose of voting, without a reduction in wages. However, an employer is not required to grant such time off from work if the voting hours are available outside the working hours of an employee. Election Act , § 335