Alberta’s expanded job-protected sick leave and what it means for employers in 2026

Employment law rarely changes with a bang. It changes quietly, then shows up loudly in day-to-day operations. Alberta’s expanded job-protected sick leave is a perfect example.

As of January 1, 2026, Alberta employers are now required to provide up to 27 weeks of job-protected leave for employees dealing with serious illness or injury. That’s an increase from the previous sixteen-week limit, and it fundamentally changes how long absences must be planned, tracked and managed.

This is no longer a future consideration. It’s the reality employers are operating in right now. And for businesses still relying on outdated processes or disconnected systems, this change is already exposing pressure points.

Why Alberta expanded job-protected sick leave to 27 weeks

Alberta did not make this change in isolation. It followed a clear national shift. Federal Employment Insurance sickness benefits were extended first, increasing the amount of time employees could receive income support while unable to work. That created a problem when provincial job protection lagged behind. If income support lasts longer than job protection, employees are left exposed and employers face uncertainty.

Ontario and British Columbia moved earlier to close that gap. Alberta has now aligned its Employment Standards Code with federal benefits and with other major provinces. Saskatchewan is also part of this broader movement.

For employers, this alignment matters. It confirms that extended illness leave is no longer an exception to plan around. It is a standard feature of modern employment in Canada.

What Alberta’s 27-week serious illness and injury leave covers

At its core, this leave is about job protection. Eligible employees who take serious illness or injury leave must be reinstated to their same position or a comparable one when they return. Their employment is treated as continuous for the purpose of calculating length of service.

The leave itself remains unpaid under the Employment Standards Code. That has not changed. However, paid sick leave, short-term disability or other benefits may still apply depending on your employment contracts, policies or collective agreements.

Eligibility rules are also unchanged. Employees must have worked for you for at least ninety days to qualify. The most significant change is duration. Twenty-seven weeks is now the maximum job-protected leave available per calendar year. Time off for illness or injury is cumulative; once the 27 weeks are used, the statutory entitlement is exhausted for that year.

This applies to leaves that began on or after January 1, 2026. In some cases, employees who were already on leave when the change took effect may be entitled to extend their leave up to the new maximum.

Employee notice and medical certificate requirements

Employees continue to have clear obligations when taking long-term illness and injury leave. They must provide a medical certificate from a physician or nurse practitioner confirming the illness or injury and estimating the expected duration of the absence.

If the anticipated return date changes, employees must inform you and may be required to provide updated medical documentation. When they are ready to return to work, they must give at least one week’s written notice. If they choose not to return after their leave ends, they are required to provide two weeks’ written notice.

These rules exist to support planning and continuity. They only work when employers have reliable systems to track timelines, documentation and communication.

Employer obligations and where risk shows up in practice

Employers are required to grant the leave and protect the employee’s job. The Employment Standards Code does provide some limits. You are not required to reinstate an employee who fails to provide proper notice or does not return for their next scheduled shift after the leave ends.

In reality, this is where complexity creeps in. Serious illness rarely follows neat timelines. Communication gaps happen. Managers make judgment calls under pressure.

With leave periods now stretching beyond six months, informal processes begin to fail. Tracking by spreadsheet, email or memory creates inconsistency. Inconsistent treatment is where legal and employee relations risks tend to surface.

This change is not creating new problems. It is revealing whether your existing processes can hold up under extended strain.

Why the 27-week limit is not the end of employer responsibilities

The twenty-seven-week entitlement under Alberta’s Employment Standards Code is a minimum standard, not a hard stop.

Human rights legislation continues to apply. Employers have a duty to accommodate employees with disabilities to the point of undue hardship. Serious medical conditions that prevent an employee from working are considered disabilities under human rights law.

That means terminating an employee solely because their statutory leave has ended can expose your business to a human rights complaint. In many cases, accommodation requires extending a leave beyond the statutory minimum if there is a reasonable expectation that the employee may return to work.

Undue hardship is a high threshold. It generally involves high financial cost, serious operational disruption or health and safety risks. Each situation must be assessed individually based on the employer’s size and resources, which means the more means you have, the higher the threshold.

In 2026, this interaction between employment standards and human rights law is well established. Employers should seek legal advice before making decisions about employees on long-term medical leave.

What Alberta’s expanded sick leave exposes about people systems

Legislative changes like this do not break systems. They test them. If your leave management relies on spreadsheets, shared inboxes or individual managers keeping track of details, this change will strain those processes quickly. Managing medical certificates, monitoring timelines, coordinating payroll adjustments and documenting decisions over half a year is not light admin.

This is why many employers are moving toward integrated platforms that bring HR records, leave management and payroll together. When data lives in one place, extended leave becomes manageable rather than chaotic.

Employment Hero’s HR software helps centralize employee records, leave tracking and documentation so long-term absences don’t turn into a scramble.

See how a single system can replace fragmented processes and reduce risk.

Practical steps Alberta employers should already be taking

By now, strong Alberta employers have realized this change is not something to wait on. It requires action.

Start with your policies. Employee handbooks and internal documentation should clearly reflect the twenty-seven-week entitlement, notice requirements and return-to-work processes. Clear policies reduce confusion and protect both employers and employees.

Next, review how leave is managed in practice. If tracking depends on manual reminders or inconsistent record keeping, it is time to rethink the approach. Consistency matters when absences are long and complex.

Workforce planning is also critical. An additional eleven weeks of leave affects coverage and workload distribution. Cross-training, temporary support and role planning should be considered in advance, not improvised mid-leave.

Finally, train your managers. They are often the first point of contact when leave requests arise. Managers need to understand the rules, the boundaries and how to handle these conversations with care and confidence.

Why payroll plays a bigger role in extended leave management

Extended illness leave affects more than HR. Payroll teams feel the impact quickly. Partial pay periods, benefit coordination, record accuracy and reporting all become more complex as absences lengthen.

Modern payroll software built for Canadian employers supports extended leave scenarios without manual workarounds. Accurate records and clean reporting matter when questions come from finance, leadership or regulators.

Employment Hero’s payroll software is designed to work alongside HR data, not in isolation. That integration becomes critical when employment is no longer straightforward.

Alberta’s expanded sick leave in the context of 2026 employment trends

Alberta’s 27-week job-protected sick leave is one of several changes employers are already navigating in 2026. Expectations around leave, flexibility and documentation continue to rise.

Employers who struggle will not be the ones who missed a headline. They will be the ones whose systems were built for a simpler era of work.

Staying informed is part of the job. Staying operationally ready is the real challenge. Our payroll and HR insights for 2026 explore the trends shaping the future of employment across Canada.

The bottom line for Alberta employers

Twenty-seven weeks of job-protected sick leave is now the standard in Alberta. How smoothly you manage it will shape employee trust, manager confidence and business resilience.

If your setup still feels fragile in 2026, the gap will only widen. There is a better way, and many employers have already made the shift. Employment Hero helps bring order to the moving parts of employment, so legislative change does not turn into operational chaos.

Let’s make employment easier before it gets harder.