v. October 2020 5
Leaves of absence
Under the ESA, there are a number of unpaid, job-protected leaves of absence, including:
• Sick leave: You can take three unpaid sick leave days per year if you are ill, injured or
have a medical emergency. You can take sick leave only after you have worked for
your employer for at least two weeks in a row.
• Family responsibility leave: You can take three unpaid days per year to care for certain
family members who are ill, injured, or have a medical emergency or urgent matter.
These relatives include spouses, children, parents, grandparents or a relative who
depends on you for care or assistance. You can take family responsibility leave only
after you have worked for your employer for at least two weeks in a row.
• Pregnancy leave: Pregnant employees can take up to 17 weeks of unpaid leave starting
anytime within 17 weeks before her due date. An employee can take pregnancy leave
only if she started working for the employer at least 13 weeks before her due date.
• Parental leave: New parents can take up to 61 or 63 weeks of unpaid parental leave.
An employee can take parental leave only if they started working for their employer
at least 13 weeks before starting their leave.
There are other leaves under the ESA, including bereavement leave, family caregiver leave
and family medical leave.
Learn more about leaves of absence at Ontario.ca/ESAguide.
Termination notice and pay
In most cases, if your employer wants to terminate (end) your employment, your employer
must give you written notice of termination or termination pay. You must work for your
employer for at least three months to have a right to termination notice or termination pay.
The amount of notice or pay depends on how long you have worked for your employer:
• Less than one year of employment: one week
• One year to two years of employment: two weeks
• Three years of employment: three weeks
• Four years of employment: four weeks
• Five years of employment: five years
• Six years of employment: six weeks
• Seven years of employment: seven weeks
• Eight years or more of employment: eight weeks