Employees are entitled to paid leave for purposes of vacation, sickness, family responsibility or other personal reasons.
This policy applies to management and non-management/non-bargaining employees. Bargaining unit employees who are temporarily assigned to either a management or a non-management/non-bargaining position for more than 6 consecutive months will also be covered by this policy.
| Fiscal Year | April 1 through March 31 |
| Paid Leave | leave awarded to employees for purposes of vacation, sickness, family responsibility or other personal reasons |
Department
It is the responsibility of individual departments to:
Employee
It is the responsibility of employees to:
Paid leave entitlement is calculated on a fiscal year cycle and is based on employees’ length of service.
| Number of Years of Service | Number of Months of Service | Number of Days Accumulated per Month | Maximum Number of Paid Leave Days |
| 0 - 9 | 2 - 119 | 2 1/12 | 25 |
| 10 - 24 | 120 - 299 | 2 1/2 | 30 |
| 25 or more | 300 or more | 2 11/12 | 35 |
Employees who work one half or more of the number of working days in a month will be credited with a full month of service for the purposes of calculating paid leave.
Where calculations of paid leave entitlements result in fractions, the amount of leave should be rounded to the nearest one half day.
Employees who regularly work at least 50% of the hours regularly scheduled for full time employees are eligible for paid leave, on a proportional basis.
Employees who regularly work less than 50% of the hours regularly scheduled for full-time employees are not eligible for paid leave. These employees will receive 4% of their salary (excluding non-pensionable allowances) on completion of each 12 months of service or termination of employment, whichever is the shorter period.
Students are not eligible for paid leave but will receive payment of 4% of their salary on completion of each 12 months of service or termination of employment, whichever is the shorter period.
Bargaining unit employees who are temporarily placed in management or non-management/non-bargaining positions with an anticipated duration of greater than 6 months, or those already placed in such positions for greater than 6 months, are to be placed on the Paid Leave Program.
Although not continuing to accrue sick and annual leave while outside the bargaining unit, these employees may access their annual and sick leave benefits as well as family responsibility leave and overtime earned while in their bargaining unit positions.
Bargaining unit employees who are placed in management or non-management/non-bargaining positions with an anticipated duration of less than 6 months retain their collective agreement coverage for annual leave, sick leave, family responsibility leave and overtime while placed in these short term management/excluded positions.
When employees who have been placed on the Paid Leave program return to their bargaining unit positions, they immediately revert to the leave and overtime provisions of their collective agreements. Accumulated paid leave credits may be banked.
The following service will be recognized for calculating paid leave entitlements:
The following will not be recognized in the calculation of paid leave entitlement:
Employees must accumulate 60 days of worked service prior to requesting paid leave.
On completion of 60 days of worked service, employees may anticipate paid leave to the end of their period of employment or to the end of the fiscal year, whichever is the shorter period.
Except in incidents of illness or family emergencies, employees must normally obtain written approval from their supervisor prior to taking paid leave.
Employees cannot use paid leave or access their sick leave bank when they are on any type of leave without pay or when suspended without pay.
Employees must use a minimum of 10 days of paid leave each year and may carry forward all remaining leave.
Employees who are unable to use a minimum of 10 days paid leave each year as a result of being on extended sick leave, injury-on-duty or because of bona fide operational requirements, may be exempted by the Employer.
New employees (those hired from areas where benefits are not transferable to Government) are exempt from having to use the minimum 10 days during the first full year of employment.
Employees on approved unpaid leave and those employees who are scheduled to retire within the current year, may have the 10 day minimum rule prorated based on the number of months worked in the fiscal year.
Subject to the approval of the Deputy Minister, employees may use their current and accumulated paid leave at any time.
Employees may request the advancement of their regular pay cheque(s) when they plan to take at least 10 consecutive work days of paid leave.
Written requests for salary advancement must be submitted to the employee’s payroll division at least 4 weeks prior to the last pay day before the employee’s paid leave period starts.
Paid leave may be deferred or canceled by the Deputy Minister, if necessary, to meet operational requirements. However, the Deputy Minister will make every reasonable effort not to recall employees to duty after they have begun their paid leave.
Where employees are recalled to work during an approved period of paid leave, the unused portion of the paid leave will be credited to the employees’ leave banks.
Employees are eligible to receive payment for accumulated paid leave when they resign, retire or are terminated.
Employees who are laid off from their positions may elect to leave their accumulated leave with the Employer to be taken at a later date or they may elect to be paid for all or part of their paid leave.
Where exiting employees have overdrawn on their leave or owe money to the Crown, the Employer may recover these amounts from the employees’ leave payouts.
Employees who have accumulated more than180 days of paid leave may, on written request and with the approval of the Deputy Minister, receive up to 10 days of pay in lieu of paid leave per year so long as they maintain a balance of at least 180 days. Paid leave days taken as pay in lieu of paid leave will be deducted from employees accumulated banks..
Employees with existing sick leave days to their credit as of April 1, 1992 will retain those days in individual sick leave banks.
After April 1, 1992 employees who resign and have a break in service in excess of 45 consecutive calendar days will lose all banked sick leave.
Employees are required to use 2 consecutive days of their paid leave prior to accessing their sick leave banks. The period of 2 consecutive days will begin with the first day the employee notifies their supervisor of the illness.
Employees with chronic or recurrent illnesses should discuss matters of accessing their sick leave banks with their Human Resources Departments who, in turn, may consult with the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Employees who are ill for periods of greater than 2 days and who wish to access their sick leave banks, must advise their supervisors immediately after the second day of illness in order to access their banked sick leave.
Employees who have exhausted all paid leave options (including time off in lieu of overtime and travel time) must take 2 days leave without pay before they can access their banked sick leave.
Employees who require leave but have no paid leave days and no banked sick leave to their credit will be placed on leave without pay.
Employees will provide the employer with a detailed medical certificate:
Employees accessing their sick leave bank, or using any other form of leave for reasons of illness, may be required by the Deputy Minister to submit a detailed medical certificate.
Employees unable to return to work due to illness or disability (as documented by a qualified medical practitioner) may be retired and:
Last Updated: March 15, 2000
Reference: TBM 2000-073