Employment Standards Act (ESA) leaves

Pregnant employees have the right to take pregnancy leave of up to 17 weeks of unpaid time off work. In some cases the leave may be longer.

New parents have the right to take parental leave – unpaid time off work when a baby or child is born or first comes into their care. Birth mothers who take pregnancy leave are entitled to up to 61 weeks’ leave. Birth mothers who do not take pregnancy leave and all other new parents are entitled to up to 63 weeks’ parental leave.

For more information, visit the Pregnancy and Parental Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Most employees have the right to take up to 10 days of job-protected leave each calendar year due to illness, injury, death and certain emergencies and urgent matters.  

For more information, visit the Personal Emergency Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Family caregiver leave is unpaid, job-protected leave of up to eight weeks per calendar year per specified family member. Family caregiver leave may be taken to provide care or support to certain family members for whom a qualified health practitioner has issued a certificate stating that they have a serious medical condition.

For more information, visit the Family Caregiver Leave page on the Ontario government website. To apply for employment insurance (EI) please complete the medical certificate for employment insurance family caregiver leave form.

Family medical leave is unpaid, job-protected leave of up to 28 weeks in a 52-week period.

Family medical leave may be taken to provide care or support to certain family members and people who consider the employee to be like a family member in respect of whom a qualified health practitioner has issued a certificate indicating that they have a serious medical condition with significant  risk of death occurring  within a period of 26 weeks. 

For more information, visit the Family Medical Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Child death leave is an unpaid, job-protected leave of absence. It provides up to 104 weeks with respect to the death of a child. Before January 1, 2018, an employee whose child had died as a result of a crime or the probable result of a crime was entitled to be on crime-related child death or disappearance leave. 

For more information, visit the Child Death Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Crime-related child death or disappearance leave is an unpaid job-protected leave of absence. It provides up to 104 weeks with respect to the crime-related disappearance of a child.

For more information, visit the Crime Related Child Disappearance Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Critical illness leave is unpaid job-protected leave of absence of up to 37 weeks in relation to a critically ill minor child, or 17 weeks in relation to a critically ill adult within a 52-week period.

For more information, visit the Critical Illness Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Domestic or sexual violence leave is a job-protected leave of absence. It provides up to 10 days and 15 weeks in a calendar year of time off to be taken for specific purposes when an employee or an employee’s child has experienced or been threatened with domestic or sexual violence. The first five days of leave taken in a calendar year are paid, and the rest are unpaid.

For more information, visit the Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Organ donor leave is unpaid, job-protected leave of up to 13 weeks, for the purpose of undergoing surgery to donate all or part of certain organs to a person. In some cases, organ donor leave can be extended for up to an additional 13 weeks.

For more information, visit the Organ Donor Leave page on the Ontario government website.

Employees who are reservists and who are deployed to an international operation or to an operation within Canada that is or will be providing assistance in dealing with an emergency or its aftermath (including search and rescue operations, recovery from national disasters such as flood relief, military aid following ice storms, and aircraft crash recovery) are entitled under the ESA to unpaid leave for the time necessary to engage in that operation. 

For more information, visit the Reservist Leave page on the Ontario government website.