Child care
“child” means a person under the age of nineteen.(enfant)
44.02(2)Subject to subsections (3), (4) and (8), an employer shall, upon the request of an employee,
(a)
who is the natural parent of a newborn or unborn child, or
(b)
who is adopting or has adopted a child,
grant the employee a leave of absence without pay of sixty-two consecutive weeks or such shorter period as the employee requests so as to enable the employee to care for the child.
44.02(3)An employee intending to take a leave of absence under paragraph (2)(
a) shall
(a)
provide the employer with a certificate of a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner or midwife specifying the date upon which delivery will, in the medical practitioner’s, nurse practitioner’s or midwife’s opinion, occur or the date upon which the birth has occurred, and
(b)
in the absence of an emergency, give four weeks written notice to the employer of the commencement date and duration of the leave.
44.02(4)An employee intending to take a leave of absence under paragraph (2)(
b) shall
(a)
on being approved in accordance with the
Child and Youth Well-Being Act as a prospective adoptive parent or, in the case of a private adoption, four months before, or in the event of an emergency as soon as possible before, the anticipated day on which the child will be placed with the employee for adoption, give written notice to the employer of the employee’s intention to take leave,
(b)
provide the employer with proof that a child has been or will be placed with the employee for the purposes of adoption, and
(c)
notify the employer of the commencement date and duration of the leave on being made aware of the date on which the child will be placed with the employee for adoption or at the time the child is placed with the employee for adoption, whichever occurs first.
44.02(5)Repealed: 2000, c.55, s.4
44.02(6)Repealed: 2000, c.55, s.4
44.02(7)Repealed: 2000, c.55, s.4
44.02(8)A leave of absence granted under subsection (2) shall commence not earlier than the date on which the newborn or adopted child came into the employee’s care and custody and end not later than seventy-eight weeks after that date.
44.02(9)Repealed: 2000, c.55, s.4
44.02(10)Where an employee intends to take a leave of absence under paragraph (2)(
a) in addition to a leave of absence under section 43, the employee must commence the leave of absence under paragraph (2)(
a) immediately on the expiry of the leave of absence taken under section 43 unless the employer and employee agree otherwise.
44.02(11)Subsection (10) does not apply where a newborn child is hospitalized at the time the leave of absence under section 43 expires.
44.02(12)If both parents are employees, the leave of absence granted under subsection (2) may
(a)
be taken wholly by one of the employees, or
(b)
be shared by the employees.
44.02(12.1)The aggregate amount of leave that may be taken by two employees under this section with respect to the same birth or adoption shall not exceed sixty-two weeks.
44.02(12.2)The aggregate amount of leave that may be taken by one or two employees under this section and section 43 with respect to the same birth shall not exceed seventy-eight weeks.
44.02(13)Subsection 44(1) applies with the necessary modifications with respect to a leave of absence granted under this section.
1988, c.59, s.18; 1991, c.52, s.5; 2000, c.26, s.106; 2000, c.55, s.4; 2002, c.23, s.1; 2011, c.26, s.1; 2018, c.14, s.2; 2023, c.36, s.8