WCB – Alberta (Millard Health) Collective Agreement 2021-2024

Article 42: Sick Leave

1. Sick leave is provided by the Employer for any legitimate health-related reason for being absent from work, quarantine by a Medical Officer of Health, or because of an accident for which compensation is not payable under The Workers’ Compensation Act.
2. The Employer recognizes that alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness are illnesses which may respond to therapy and treatment, and that absence from work due to such therapy shall be considered sick leave.
3. After an Employee has completed three (3) months’ continuous employment, they shall be entitled to sick leave pay to a maximum of six hundred and thirty-eight (638) hours and benefits in accordance with the schedule outlined in Article 42.07.
4. Employees may be required to submit satisfactory proof to the Employer of any health-related reason for being absent from work. Employees who abuse sick leave may be discharged.
5. Leave of Absence and Sick Leave
   1. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Collective Agreement, sick leave pay shall not be granted during any leave of absence or lay-off.
   2. Sick leave pay shall be granted for complications which arise from a pregnancy before and after completion of a maternity leave of absence provided that appropriate medical evidence supports such complications.
6. Employees are not eligible for sick leave for the first three (3) months of employment.

7. Sick leave entitlement shall be accrued in the following manner:

   Service	Benefit Level
   	Hours @ Full Salary	Hours @ 90% Salary
   More than Three Months  but Less than One Year	159.5	478.5
   One Year but Less than  Three Years	319	319
   Three Years but Less  than Six Years	478.5	159.5
   Six Years or More	638	---

    

8. No sick leave shall be granted for any illness which is incurred once an Employee commences their vacation. In that event, the Employee will be receiving vacation pay. However, sick leave shall be granted:
   1. if an Employee becomes ill during their vacation period as stated in Article 42.09 below, only after the expiry of the Employee’s vacation and provided the illness continues beyond the vacation;
   2. for the period of sick time falling within a scheduled vacation period that the Employee becomes ill prior to the commencement of the scheduled vacation, if the Employee so wishes, the number of sick days paid within the scheduled vacation period shall be considered as vacation days not taken and may be rescheduled to a later date.
9. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 42.07, should an Employee be admitted to hospital as an “in-patient” or confined to their bed on the advisement of a physician during the course of their vacation, they shall be considered as being on sick leave for the period of hospitalization or confinement and subsequent period of recovery provided they notify their Employer upon return from vacation and provides satisfactory proof of their hospitalization or confinement. Vacation time not taken as a result of such stay in hospital or confinement shall be rescheduled to a mutually agreeable time.
10. Should an Employee be terminated or laid off while on sick leave, sick pay shall continue until sick leave is exhausted, or until recovery from the illness, whichever occurs first.
11. An illness which is the result of service in the armed forces, or arising out of a criminal offense if found guilty by a criminal court is an exclusion from sick leave pay.
12. In the case of a long-term temporary Employee who is in receipt of sick leave pay at the date of the anticipated termination of temporary employment, such sick leave pay shall cease.