Newfoundland and Labrador Employment Law

Eligibility for Annual Leave – To qualify for an annual leave, an employee must have been employed with the employer for at least 12 continuous months and have worked at least 90% of the available working hours.

Duration of Annual Leave – An employee who has been in continuous employment with the same employer for less than 15 years is entitled to 2 weeks of annual leave per year. For an employee with 15 or more years of continuous service with the same employer, annual leave time is 3 weeks per year.

Manner of taking Annual Leave – An employee who is entitled to 2 weeks of annual leave can take such leave either in one broken period of 2 weeks or 2 unbroken periods of 1 week each. An employee who is entitled to 3 weeks of annual leave can take the leave in any of the below manner –

• • • 1 unbroken period of 3 weeks;
    • 2 unbroken periods of 2 weeks and 1 week respectively;
    • 3 unbroken periods of 1 week each.

The employee must be allowed to take their annual leave within 10 months of the time they become eligible for it and shall be given at least 2 weeks of written notice of commencement of annual leave.

Overtime and Holiday Pay are included for the purposes of calculating Annual Leave Pay.

Annual Leave Pay – An employer is not obligated to provide payment for annual leave to an employee unless the employee has been continuously employed by the employer for at least five consecutive workdays.

Annual leave pay for employees who have worked for less than 15 years with the same employer is calculated as 4% of total wages earned by the employee for the hours worked by the employee within the continuous 12-month period, including commissions and overtime, and 6% of the total wages earned by the employee for the hours worked by the employee within the continuous 12 month period, for employees with 15 years or more of continuous employment with the same employer.

An employer shall pay at least one day before the annual leave, the payment to which the employee is entitled for the period of annual leave taken or given.

Cancellation of Annual Leave – The employer may cancel an employee’s annual leave. If the employer and employee agree to the annual leave in writing and the employer cancels the annual leave they must compensate the employee for reasonable expenses that cannot be recovered by the employee as a result of the vacation being canceled.

Annual Leave upon Termination of Employment – If an employee is eligible for vacation pay upon termination of employment, they shall be paid within one week of the termination of employment.

Time of payment – An employer shall at least 1 day before the annual leave or a part of it if an employee begins, pay to the employee the vacation pay, or a part of it, to which the employee is entitled for the period of leave taken or given.

Excess Annual Leave – Where an employee is permitted by the employer to take a period of annual leave in excess of the annual leave required to be given by the employer, that excess leave does not negate in whole or in part a future annual leave or annual leave pay to which the employee may be entitled.

Annual Leave coinciding with Public Holiday – If a public holiday falls on a day on which an employee is not scheduled to work, the employer shall grant a holiday on the first working day immediately after the public holiday or on another day as mutually agreed to by the employer and employee and this day shall be a paid day for the employee. Labour Standards Act, § 7 – 13.

Effective October 1, 2023, the minimum wage in Newfoundland & Labrador is set at $15.00 per hour.

The minimum wage stated above is subject to change and may not be up to date. Kindly access this link to get current wage rates.

Duration of Sick Leave: An employee shall be entitled to 7 working days of unpaid sick or family responsibility leave in a year.

Eligibility Criteria of Sick Leave: An employee shall be employed with the same employer for at least 30 consecutive days in order to avail of the sick leave benefits.

Medical Certificate: An employee must provide a medical certificate to their employer signed by a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner if they have been on sick leave for 3 consecutive days or more. Labour Standards Act, § 43.11.

An employee who has been in continuous employment with the same employer for at least 20 consecutive weeks immediately before the expected birth date of the child is entitled to pregnancy unpaid leave for up to 17 weeks.

The leave shall not begin earlier than 17 weeks before the expected date of delivery and if the employee is entitled to take parental leave, the leave shall end 17 weeks after the pregnancy leave begins.

An employee shall give their employer at least 2 weeks written notice of the date the leave is to begin; and a certificate from a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner stating the estimated birth date.

The pregnancy leave of an employee who is not entitled to take parental leave ends either 17 weeks after the pregnancy leave began or the day that is 6 weeks after the birth, stillbirth or miscarriage, whichever is later. Labour Standards Act, § 40 – 43.2.

An employee who is a parent of a child and has been employed with the same employer for at least 20 consecutive weeks is entitled to unpaid leave following the coming of the child into care and custody for the first time.

The leave begins on the day the employee stops working and ends 17 weeks after it begins or an earlier day if the employee gives his or her employer at least 4 weeks’ written notice of that day.

An employee shall give their employer at least 2 weeks written notice of the date the leave is to begin. Labour Standards Act, § 43 – 43.2.

An employee who has been employed with the same employer for at least 20 consecutive weeks and is a parent of a child is entitled to unpaid leave following:

• • • The birth of the child; or
    • The coming of the child into the care and custody of the parent for the first time.

The parental leave of an employee who takes pregnancy leave shall begin when the pregnancy leave ends unless the child has not yet come into the care and custody of the parent for the first time. Parental leave shall end on the earlier of:

• • • • 61 weeks after it began; or
      • 96 weeks after the day the child is born or comes into the care and custody of the parent for the first time.

Parental leave can also end on an earlier day if the employee gives the employer at least 4 weeks’ written notice of that day. An employee shall give his or her employer at least 2 weeks’ written notice of the date the leave is to begin. Labour Standards Act, § 43.3 – 43.9.

An employee who has been in continuous employment with the same employer for at least 30 days is entitled to 1 day of paid leave and 2 days of unpaid leave in the event of the death of a relative.

The employee will be entitled to wages calculated by multiplying the employee’s hourly rate of pay by the average number of hours worked in a day in the 3 weeks immediately preceding the bereavement leave.

An employee who has not been in continuous employment for at least 30 days with the same employer is entitled to unpaid leave for 2 days in the event of the death of a relative. Where an employee who is entitled to 1 day paid bereavement leave is taking an annual leave at the time they would otherwise have taken the day of bereavement leave, the employee is entitled to take one extra day of annual leave. Labour Standards Act, § 43.10.

An employee who has been in continuous employment for at least 30 days is entitled to an unpaid leave of 28 weeks to provide care or support to a family member with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks from:

• • • The day when the medical certificate is issued; or
    • The day the leave began if leave began before the certificate was issued.

The leave begins either on the first day of the week in which the certificate is issued or the first day of the week in which the employee was absent if the leave began before the certificate was issued. The leave will end with the last day of the week in which either of the following occurs:

• • • • The family member dies; or
      • The expiration of 52 weeks following the first day of the week in which the leave begins.

An employer shall provide an additional 3 weeks of unpaid leave immediately following the end of the week in which the death of the family member occurred. A leave of absence shall be taken in periods of at least 1 week in duration. The aggregate amount of leave that can be taken by two or more employees with respect to the same family member shall not exceed 28 weeks in the 52-week period.

Notice requirement: An employee shall give written notice to their employer at least 2 weeks before the leave is to begin unless there is a valid reason for not giving notice. Labour Standards Act, § 43.13 – 43.16.

An employee who has been employed with the same employer for a period of at least 6 consecutive months and is a member of the reserves is entitled to unpaid leave for the purpose of providing service.

An employee shall not be entitled to a second or additional period of unpaid leave for the purpose of service unless at least one year is over, calculated from the date when the employee returned to work from the most recent leave of absence.

Notice requirement: An employee shall give their employer at least 60 days’ notice in writing before taking the leave and specifies the date on which the leave will begin and end.           

An employer may require an employee to provide a certificate from an official with the reserves stating that the employee is a member of the reserves and is required for service. Labour Standards Act, § 43.17 – 43.22.

An employee who has been employed with the same employer for at least 30 days and is a parent of a child who has died as a result of a crime is entitled to unpaid leave for up to 104 weeks.

An employee who has been employed with the same employer for at least 30 days and is a parent whose child has disappeared as a result of crime, is entitled to unpaid leave up to 52 weeks.

An employee is not entitled to a leave of absence if that employee is charged with the crime necessitating that leave of absence.

An employee shall provide the employer with reasonable verification of the necessity of the leave as soon as possible. An employee shall give written notice to their employer at least 2 weeks before the leave begins. Labour Standards Act, § 43.23 – 43.27.

An employee who has been employed with the same employer for at least 30 days is entitled to leave up to 37 weeks to provide care or support to a critically ill child who is a family member.

An employee who has been employed with the same employer for at least 30 days is entitled to leave up to 17 weeks to provide care or support to a critically ill adult who is a family member.

Medical Certificate: An employee who wishes to take a leave of absence shall give the employer a copy of the medical practitioner or nurse practitioner’s certificate as soon as possible.

Notice requirement: An employee shall give written notice to their employer at least 2 weeks before the leave is to begin unless there is a valid reason for not giving notice and specifies the date on which the leave will begin and end.Labour Standards Act, § 43.28 – 43.32.

An employee who has been in continuous employment with the same employer for a period of at least 30 days is entitled to 3 days of paid leave and unpaid leave for 7 days in a year, in cases where the employee or a person to whom the employee is a parent or a caregiver has been a victim of or impacted by family violence or has witnessed family violence.

The wages to which an employee is entitled to, is calculated by multiplying the employee’s hourly rate of pay by the average number of hours worked in a day in the 3 weeks immediately preceding the family violence leave.

Reasons for Leave: An employee shall not be granted a leave of absence unless it is – 

• • • to allow the employee or a person to whom the employee is a parent or caregiver to seek and receive medical attention, counselling or other services from a health professional for physical, psychological or emotional harm or an injury or disability that is a result of the family violence;
    • to allow the employee or a person to whom the employee is a parent or caregiver to seek and receive services provided by a transition house, a policing agency, the government of Canada, the government of a province or municipality or any organization that provides services to persons who have been directly or indirectly subjected to, a victim of, impacted or seriously affected by family violence or have witnessed family violence;
    • to allow the employee to move their place of residence;
    • to allow the employee or a person to whom the employee is a parent or caregiver to seek and receive legal services or other legal assistance.

Pay– The employee’s entitled wages are determined by multiplying their hourly pay rate by the average daily hours worked over the three weeks immediately preceding the family violence leave.

Exception – An employee shall not be granted leave in certain cases such as to allow the employee to move their place of residence, or receive legal services etc. An unused portion of the period of leave expires at the end of the year in which it was granted.

Notice Requirement: An employee who intends to take family violence leave shall give written notice to their employer as soon as possible, unless there is a valid reason why that notice cannot be given.

An employee who gives written notice shall include the length of the leave of absence that the employee intends to take. Labour Standards Act, § 43.33 – 43.42.

An employee is entitled to a leave of absence from employment without pay where the employee will not be performing the duties of his or her position because of one or more of the following reasons related to a designated communicable disease:

• • • the employee is under individual medical investigation, supervision or treatment related to a designated communicable disease;
    • The employee is acting in accordance with an order under the Public Health Protection and Promotion Act related to a designated communicable disease;
    • the employee is in isolation or quarantine or is subject to a control measure, including self-isolation.
    • The employee is under a direction given by their employer in response to a concern of the employer that the employee may expose other individuals in the workplace to a designated communicable disease;
    • the employee is providing care or support to a family member for a reason related to a designated communicable disease that concerns that individual including a school or child care service closure;
    • The employee is directly affected by travel restrictions related to a designated communicable disease.

An employer may require an employee to provide evidence reasonable in the circumstances, at a time that is reasonable in the circumstances, that the employee is entitled to the leave, but shall not require an employee to provide a certificate from a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner as evidence.

An employee shall be allowed to take leave starting on the date prescribed in the regulations and for as long as they are not performing the duties because of the disease and the communicable disease designated by the regulations. Labour Standards Act, § 43.38.

An employee is eligible for 4 consecutive hours of paid time off from work for the purpose of voting. An employer does not have an obligation to provide time off from work where the required number of consecutive hours falls outside an employee’s hours of work but within the voting hours. An Act Respecting Elections, Controverted Elections And Election Financing § 210.