sick leave policy

Three popular articles this week on HRinfodesk

March 23, 2017 Cristina Lavecchia Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Source Deductions and Reporting, Wages and Compensation

The three popular articles this week on HRinfodesk deal with: An employee who was dismissed for not submitting a doctor’s note in a timely fashion; a firefighter who was reinstated after being dismissed for sexually harassing a co–worker; and human rights claims, made by a former employee, that were barred by terms of a final release received on termination.

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Use caution when managing your sick leave policy

November 26, 2014 Adam Gorley Employee Relations, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Privacy and Security, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

When a health centre updated its sick-leave procedures, it thought it would be making it easier and safer for employees to return to work after an illness. In practice, things played out very differently.

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OHRT rules the “flu” is not a “disability” attracting the protection of the Human Rights Code

February 14, 2014 Simon Heath, BA, MIR, LLB, Heath Law Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights

As an employment law practitioner, it is refreshing to see any court and/or administrative tribunal release a decision that makes “common sense” (as well as legal sense). Recently, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal had to determine if the common flu and strep throat constituted disabilities under the Human Rights Code .

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Doctor’s notes: When should an employer ask for one?

January 14, 2014 Doug MacLeod, MacLeod Law Firm Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

Dr. Scott Wooder, president of the Ontario Medical Association, says employers that require doctor’s notes could be unwittingly increasing the spread of germs by unnecessarily sending sick people to doctors’ offices.

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Sick days or personal days?

November 3, 2011 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Privacy and Security

Employers are often at a loss as to how to ensure employees who take sick days are really sick and not simply abusing the system. They are often scared to ask for doctor’s notes, but also scared that if they don’t, the abuse will become rampant. I often encourage employers to consider abandoning the notion of sick days altogether, and simply provide a fixed number of “personal days”, which eliminates the implicit or explicit requirement that an individual be sick in order to have time off.

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