Critically Ill Child Leave

An employee who has been employed by an employer for a minimum of three months is entitled to up to thirty-seven weeks of unpaid leave to provide care or support to a critically ill child.

To qualify for this leave, a legally qualified medical practitioner must issue a certificate stating that the child is critically ill and requires the care or support of the employee, as well as setting out the period during which the child requires the care or support.

The employee must advise the employer in writing as soon as possible of their intention to take a leave of absence and provide a written plan indicating the weeks in which they will take the leave.

• If the employee must begin the leave before advising the employer, they must advise the employer as soon as possible.

The leave of absence may only be taken in periods of not less than one week's duration.

The leave must be taken during the fifty-two week period that begins on the first day of the week in which the child with respect to whom the certificate was issued became critically ill.

The leave of absence ends with the last day of the week in which any of the following occurs:

• the child dies (subject to certain conditions),

• the number of weeks in the period specified in the certificate has been taken, or

• a thirty-seven week leave has been taken.

If more than one child of the employee is critically ill as a result of the same event, the leave ends no later than the last day of the last week of the fifty-two week period that begins on the first day of the week in which the first of the children with respect to whom a certificate was issued became critically ill.

If one or more children remain critically ill while the employee is on leave or after the employee returns to work, the employee is entitled to take an extension of the leave or a new leave, subject to certain conditions.

An employee may end a leave earlier than the expiry of thirty-seven weeks by giving the employer written notice of at least fourteen days before the employee wishes to end the leave. An employee may take a leave at another time.

Critically Ill Adult Leave

An employee is entitled to an unpaid leave of absence of up to 16 weeks to care for a critically ill adult family member.

To be eligible, the employee must have been employed by the employer for at least three months and have a legally qualified medical practitioner issue a certificate stating that the adult family member is critically ill and requires the care or support of the employee.

The employee must inform the employer in writing as soon as possible of their intention to take a leave and provide a written plan indicating the weeks they will take off.

The leave may only be taken in periods of not less than one week.

The leave must be taken within 52 weeks of the first day of the week in which the adult family member became critically ill and ends with the last day of the week in which the adult family member dies, the number of weeks specified in the certificate have been taken, or a 16-week leave has been taken.

If more than one family member is critically ill, the leave ends no later than the last day of the last week of the 52-week period that begins on the first day of the week in which the first of the adults became critically ill.

If an employee needs to take an extension of the leave or a new leave, a legally qualified medical health practitioner must issue an additional certificate.

The employee may end the leave early or take it at a different time than indicated in the written plan with the employer's agreement.

NS LSC s.60