This policy outlines our company’s provisions for employees who need to be absent from work on an unscheduled basis.
Our company understands that an employee may need to take unscheduled days off due to illness. The Alberta Employment Standards Code legislation states that, by law, we are required to provide a minimum of five (5) unpaid days per calendar year (January 1 to December 31) to any employee who is sick or needs to attend to personal emergencies. Alberta Employment Standards legislation may be found here.
At Sandy Lane, we allow ten (10) unpaid sick days per calendar year to all employees, with the following stipulations:
If an employee is sick or cannot show up for their scheduled shift for personal reasons, they are required to contact their supervisor as soon as possible by phone call or text message to notify the company of their absence prior to the start of their shift; upon the commencement of their employment, all employees are provided with a sheet listing the contact numbers.
A response by the supervisor must be received. If no response is received from the first contact, you must inform the second contact on the list, etc., until you do get a response. Voicemails and emails are not an acceptable form of notification. If you do not receive a response, the leave will be considered unreported and will be subject to disciplinary action.
Employees will need to submit a physician’s note or other medical certification if:
- They are absent for more than two consecutive days on sick leave,
- They are absent for more than ten sick days per year, or,
- Cases when a pattern arises (e.g. employees plead sick at a consistently specific day of the week – e.g. Fridays or Mondays, etc.)
Any sick days will be unpaid, with the exception of WCB or Short-Term Disability claims.
Although we do not pay you for sick days, employees may request that vacation pay be released to cover the time off, if that vacation pay is available; if all vacation time has already been used, this will not be an option.
If sick days are unused during the calendar year, they are not carried forward. The start of the new calendar year will reset the number of days available.
This policy does not apply to absences that fall under the jurisdiction of the Workers’ Compensation Board (workplace-related injuries/illness) or Disability Claims.
If an injury is suffered at work, the injury MUST be reported to the employer as soon as possible, and the proper WCB reporting procedure will be followed.
Full-time employees receive Disability coverage after their 90-day probation period is over. If your sick leave lasts more than 7 days, you may qualify for a disability claim and receive wage reimbursement. Our insurance provider requires a 7-day elimination period before a claim will begin, and wage reimbursement will start on the 8th day of illness, unless the illness is critical and the employee is hospitalized for a period of at least 24 hours, in which case the claim will take effect immediately (no elimination period). If you feel that you need to open a disability claim, please talk to your HR person to discuss this.
2024-03-13