This is the approach taken in the federal jurisdiction, where the Canada Labour Code was amended to create a 27 week job-protected Medical Leave that mirrors the scope and eligibility criteria for EI sickness benefits and includes an entitlement to 10 employer-paid sick days.2 Together these measures ultimately lessen the burden on our healthcare system and reduce the spread of disease and illness. [...] The eligibility criteria for a new long-term job-protected leave should not create additional barriers to access that exceed the criteria for EI sickness benefits Any new ESA job-protected leave provision should not thwart workers’ entitlement to EI sick leave. [...] If in the medical opinion of a qualified health professional, a worker is unable to work for medical reasons, the ESA should enable that worker to follow their health practitioner’s recommendations for recovery. [...] To fulfill the government’s stated purpose of ensuring workers “have the peace of mind that their job will be waiting for them while they seek treatment”,6 workers should not have to earn the right to take care of their health through an excessive length of service requirement. [...] For longer absences, if evidence is required to verify a worker’s leave entitlement, the Ministry should safeguard the worker’s medical privacy by maintaining the Program’s current policy for Sick Leave (ESA, section 50) evidence, which prohibits employers from requiring information that reveals the workers’ diagnosis and/or treatment of the medical condition of the employee that give rise to the.
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