Air Canada: New Federally Regulated Sick Days

Air Canada: New Federally Regulated Sick Days

January 13, 2023 at 6:00 PM

  

Hi everyone,

The Canada Labour Code has been amended by the federal government regarding paid sick leave. As of December 31, 2022, employees with at least 30 days of service have access to the first 3 days of paid sick leave, and the employees start to acquire an additional day each month starting from February 1, 2023, up to a maximum of 10 days per year. Any days of medical leave with pay that you do not take in a year will be credited to you at the beginning of the new year (up to a maximum of 10 days).

Having said that, the Canada Labour Code only sets the minimum requirements for employers. If a collective agreement or arrangement between an employer and their workers provides for better provisions, then the most favourable provisions will apply. For example, these can be provisions related to:

  • conditions for taking the leave

  • the amount of pay for the leave

  • accrual and carry-forward of the leave

You may have likely noticed that the company has pre-emptively credited 80 hours of sick time. At this time, we can confirm that this is simply a temporary measure that the company has taken to avoid non-compliance with the law, so that employees have access to some form of sick leave until all issues can be sorted out. We have had some discussions with the company and we will come back to you with the details of how this new legislation will be applied in the context of our collective agreement. We are looking into all issues related to the new legislation to make sure that the most favourable provisions are being made available to our members.

  

In solidarity,

Unifor/Air Canada Bargaining Committee,
Benoit Lapointe – Chairperson, Eastern Region
Tracy Rector – Atlantic Region
Harold Bateman – Central Region
Joanne Goulet – Western Region
Soppo Gomez Gnali – Pacific Region
Tammy Moore – President, Unifor Local 2002
Frances Galambosy – Unifor National Service Representative, Airline Sector
Leslie Dias – Unifor Director, Airlines Sector

  

  

  

  

/23-01-13 Air Canada bargaining update EN.txt