British Columbia introduces a 27-week job-protected leave for serious illness or injury, creating new compliance layers for employers under both the Employment Standards Act and Human Rights Code.

Workers in British Columbia facing cancer, major injuries or long-term health conditions now have access to an extended, job-protected leave under changes to the province’s Employment Standards Act.

As of Dec. 1, employees covered by the ESA can take up to 27 weeks of unpaid leave in any 12-month period when unable to work due to serious personal illness or injury. The new provisions apply to those who are medically unfit for work for at least seven consecutive days.

The leave can be taken all at once or spread across multiple periods within a year. For workers managing treatment schedules or fluctuating conditions, such as chemotherapy or episodic disorders like multiple sclerosis, this flexibility may prove essential. “People should never have to choose between their job and their health,” Premier David Eby said in an official government statement.

The policy aligns B.C. with similar frameworks in Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Saskatchewan is expected to implement comparable protections.

B.C. employers face a new ESA compliance layer

Under the new serious personal illness or injury leave, workers do not need to meet a minimum length of service to qualify. What they do need is a medical certificate confirming their inability to work, the leave start date and the anticipated return date.

Employees must take the leave in full-week blocks, from Sunday to Saturday. If a worker starts or returns midweek, the absence counts as two weeks toward their 27-week entitlement. That calculation window, the 52-week period, begins on the Sunday of the week when the certificate is issued or when the first leave period starts, whichever is earlier.

Where less than 27 weeks are used in the first instance, employees can take further leave within the same window, provided they submit a new certificate or previously confirmed their return date. This statutory leave is intended to work in tandem with federal Employment Insurance (EI) Sickness Benefits. While EI offers financial support, the new ESA leave guarantees job protection, ensuring returning workers have a role to come back to.

For employers, this means policies must clearly reflect the interplay between federal and provincial rules. A leave protected by the ESA might extend beyond EI eligibility, or vice versa. Payroll, benefits and job continuity processes need to be ready to support both.

Human Rights Code still applies, experts warn

The ESA changes do not replace or override employers’ obligations under B.C.’s Human Rights Code.

In a post from Clark Wilson LLP’s official website, employment lawyers Andrea Raso and Ty Bradford outlined how the new ESA leave sits alongside existing accommodation duties under human rights law. “While the accommodation obligations under the Human Rights Code generally require employers to maintain employees’ employment while they are unable to work due to a mental or physical disability, the new Serious Illness or Injury Leave gives employees a separate legal right to take time off work,” they wrote. “Moreover, it provides job protection.”

This dual obligation means employers must carefully navigate both regulatory frameworks.

“It emphasizes the importance of accurately tracking medical documentation and leave length, and managing return-to-work processes,” said the post. “Care must also be taken when restaffing an employee’s position during their leave to limit liability to new staff once the employee is fit to return to their position.”

The introduction of a new protected leave type may also trigger the need for revised internal guidance. HR teams should review any language in employment contracts or handbooks that references medical leave or extended sick time. Clear differentiation between ESA, EI and Human Rights Code entitlements will help reduce confusion and ensure consistent application across teams.

What this means for B.C.’s leave framework

The new serious illness leave joins an already complex leave landscape under the ESA. B.C. employers are also required to support time off for illness or injury (commonly called sick leave), maternity and parental leave, family responsibility, compassionate care, critical illness, domestic or sexual violence, bereavement, jury duty and incidents involving a missing or deceased child.

Recent updates have also changed when employers can request sick notes, adding another layer of regulation to the sick leave space. This move aligns with a broader legislative trend toward strengthening employee protections during periods of health-related absence.

The Employment Standards Branch has published updated resources, including guidance materials, to help businesses incorporate the new leave into their workplace policies. These include a breakdown of eligibility, documentation requirements and examples of how the leave can be structured over time.

For HR leaders and business owners, preparation will be key. Policies will need to be reviewed, manager training refreshed and employee onboarding materials revised to reflect the full spectrum of leave entitlements now in place.

The change will be particularly relevant to smaller businesses with leaner teams. Covering a 27-week absence, potentially with intermittent returns, may pose challenges in resourcing, role continuity and team cohesion. In such cases, proactive planning around temporary staffing, internal redeployment and cross-training could help mitigate disruption.

Legal and payroll teams may also need to coordinate closely to ensure wage deductions, benefit continuations and employment status are managed in alignment with both provincial and federal law.

More broadly, the introduction of this new leave signals a continued shift toward integrating health realities into employment law. It recognizes that extended illness and recovery are increasingly part of the working landscape, particularly as populations age and chronic conditions rise.

The real test will be how these provisions function in practice, not just whether employees understand their rights, but whether employers have the structures in place to support them effectively. With the law now in effect, B.C. employers must act quickly to update their internal protocols, employee communications and manager training to ensure compliance.