Compassionate care leave – IPG-063

Compassionate Care leave and Leave related to critical illness

The length of leave is calculated using weeks. A "week" is defined as the period between midnight on Saturday and midnight on the immediately following Saturday.

In a 52-week period and in relation to each family member for whom care and support is provided, an employee may take or more than 1 employee may share a maximum unpaid leave as follows:

• compassionate care leave: 28 weeks
• leave related to critical illness of a child: 37 weeks
• leave related to critical illness of an adult: 17 weeks

More than 1 employee can take the same leave in relation to the same family member. Each employee can take leave at any time during the 52-week period. They can either take it at the same time or at different times. Their combined periods of leave may not exceed the maximum periods provided under the Code (see paragraph above). For example, if 2 employees are taking compassionate care leave, their combined periods of leave may not exceed a total of 28 weeks in the 52-week period.

Where more than 1 employee wants to take a leave in relation to the same family member, they cannot take compassionate care leave at the same time as a Leave related to critical illness of a child or an adult.

Compassionate care leave and bereavement leave

Upon the death of a family member, an employee is entitled to bereavement leave of up to 10 days. They may take it during the period beginning on the date of death and ending 6 weeks after the date of the:

• funeral
• burial, or
• memorial service, whichever is later

If the employee has completed 3 months of continuous employment with the same employer, he is entitled to the first 3 days paid. This is paid at the regular rate of pay for a normal working day. If not, he is entitled to an unpaid leave of 10 days.

In the case of compassionate care leave and bereavement leave, an employee cannot take these leaves at the same time. As a consequence, the employee must wait until the end of the week of the compassionate care leave and then start the bereavement leave on the following Sunday.

How compassionate care leave works if the employee is taking leave related to critical illness

Subsections 206.3(7), 206.4(5) and section 207.01 of the Code provides that, in a 52-week period, compassionate care leave and leave related to critical illness can be:

• shared between 1 or more employees (for the maximum combined leave periods, see Guiding Principles above)
• divided in many periods of not less than 1 week's duration, and
• taken in 1 consecutive period

Employees are neither required to, nor prevented from, taking their leave at the same time. However, subsection 206.3(7.1) of the Code provides 2 circumstances in which these leaves cannot be taken at the same time.

Firstly, an employee alone cannot take compassionate care leave and leave related to critical illness at the same time in respect of the same family member. If the employee is eligible to take compassionate care leave, the employee must wait for the leave related to critical illness to end first.

Secondly, more than 1 employee can share a leave related to critical illness in respect of the same family member. If these employees are eligible to take compassionate care leave for the family member, they must wait until the leave related to critical illness of all employees ends before starting the other leave.

The appendix  provides a scenario.

How compassionate care leave works if the immediate family member dies during the leave period

The Code provides that an employee is eligible to take bereavement leave.

However, bereavement leave and compassionate care leave cannot be taken at the same time. This is because an employee cannot be absent from employment for the purposes of 2 different leaves at the same time in respect of the same family member. In the event that the immediate family member dies during the compassionate care leave period, the employee must wait until the leave ends before taking bereavement leave.