The Ontario Employment Standards Amendments Act (Leaves to
Help Families) came into force on October 29, 2014,
creating three new unpaid family-related leaves for employees: (1)
Family Caregiver Leave; (2) Critically Ill Child Care Leave; and
(3) Crime-Related Child Death or Disappearance Leave. This post
will highlight the salient features of these new provisions
affecting Ontario employers.
Entitlement to any one of these leaves is in addition to
entitlement to the others, as well as family medical leave under
section 49.1 and personal emergency leave under section 50. For all
three new leaves, the employee must provide prior written notice to
the employer, where possible. The employer may also demand evidence
of an employee's entitlement to leave, such as a police report,
medical certificate, or death certificate. There are some
additional stipulations for the Critically Ill Child Care Leave and
the Crime-Related Child Death or Disappearance Leave. Namely,
