Family Responsibility Leave

Under British Columbia’s Employment Standards Act, employees are entitled to certain job-protected leaves of absence. This includes family responsibility leave. As an employer, you cannot refuse to provide the time off for this type of request.

What is Family Responsibility Leave?

Under the Employment Standards Act, family responsibility leave is unpaid, job-protected leave for employees to help with family matters.

It’s important to note that family responsibility leave differs from compassionate care leave and bereavement leave, both of which allow for time off for different reasons.

Employer Responsibility

The Employment Standards Act states employers must provide at least five days off per employment year for family responsibility leave. The entitlement is to accommodate employees who require time off work for:

The care, health or education of a child under 19 in their care; or
The care for the health of any other member of the employee’s immediate family, which includes their spouse, child, parent, guardian, sibling, grandchild or grandparent, common-law spouse, same-sex partner, stepparents and stepchildren.

Any time in a day that an employee takes for family responsibility (i.e. one hour) counts as a full day of leave. Also, any unused days cannot be carried over into the next calendar year.