Quebec Employment Law

The reference year is a period of twelve consecutive months during which an employee progressively acquires entitlement to an annual leave. That period extends from 1 May of the preceding year to 30 April of the current year unless an agreement or decree fixes a different starting date for that period.

Effective January 1, 2019, an employee to be entitled to two weeks of vacation after one year of service and 3 weeks of paid vacation after 3 years of uninterrupted service [ instead of the current norm of three weeks of vacation after 5 years of service]. The annual leave must be taken within 12 months following the end of the reference year, except where a collective agreement or a decree allows it to be deferred until the following year. The annual leave may also be divided into more than two periods where so requested by the employee, provided the employer gives consent.

In addition, if at the end of the 12 months following the end of a reference year, the employee is absent for any of the reasons set out in section 79.1 ( leave owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence or sexual violence) or is absent or on leave for family or parental matters, the employer may, at the request of the employee, defer the annual leave to the following year. If the annual leave is not so deferred, the employer must pay the indemnity for the annual leave to which the employee is entitled. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §66-70; Amended by Bill 176 §11-12.

Effective May 1, 2022, the minimum wage in Quebec is $14.25.

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

Pregnant employees are entitled to maternity leave without pay of a maximum duration of 20 continuous weeks. The parental leave may be added to the maternity leave. The employee may spread the maternity leave before or after the date of delivery as she wishes. The employer may agree to longer maternity leave if the employee requests it. The maternity leave may not begin before the 16th week preceding the expected date of delivery and shall end not later than 18 weeks afterward. If the leave begins at the time of delivery, the week of delivery is not included in the calculation. Act Respecting Labor Standards, §81.4-81.9.

Effective January 1, 2021, special maternity leave can last up to 20 consecutive weeks after the week of the termination of pregnancy.

The father and the mother of a new-born child, and a person who adopts a child are entitled to parental leave without pay of not more than  78 weeks from the week of the birth.

Parental leave may not begin before the week the child is born or, in the case of adoption, the week the child is entrusted to the employee within the framework of an adoption procedure or the week the employee leaves his work to go to a place outside Québec in order that the child is entrusted to him. It shall end not later than 78 weeks after the birth or, in the case of adoption, 78 weeks after the child was entrusted to the employee. Parental leave may end at the latest 104 weeks after the birth or, in the case of adoption, 104 weeks after the child was entrusted to the employee. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.10-81.11.

 An employee is entitled to a paternity leave of not more than five consecutive weeks, without pay, on the birth of his child. The paternity leave shall not begin before the week of the birth of the child and shall not end later than 78 weeks after the week of the birth.

Paternity leave may be taken after giving written notice of not less than three weeks to the employer, stating the expected date of the leave and that of the return to work. However, the notice may be shorter if the birth of the child occurs before the expected date.

An absence for paternity leave during the reference year does not reduce the length of an employee’s vacation. The employee is entitled to an indemnity that is equal, depending on his length of uninterrupted service, to 2 or 3 times the weekly average of the wages earned during the reference year. It should be noted that the employee does not accumulate vacation pay while on parental leave. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.2-81.2.1.

Employees shall be allowed to divide paternity and parental leaves into weeks. The effective date of the leave division is not mentioned as per a new amendment.

An employee may be absent from work for five days at the birth of his child, the adoption of a child or where there is a termination of pregnancy in or after the twentieth week of pregnancy. The first two days of absence shall be remunerated. This leave may be divided into days at the request of the employee. It may not be taken more than fifteen days after the child arrives at the residence of its father or mother or after the termination of pregnancy. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.1; Amended by Bill 176 §32.

An employee may be absent from work, for 10 days per year to fulfill obligations relating to the care, health or education of the employee’s child or the child of the employee’s spouse, or because of the state of health of a relative or a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver.

Remuneration for the first two days of a leave of absence to fulfill obligations relating to the care, health or education of the employee’s child or the child of the employee’s spouse, or because of the state of health of the employee’s spouse or relative. The first two leave days that are taken will be paid if the employee has three months of uninterrupted service. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.7; Amended by Bill 176 §21.

An employee who is also a reservist of the Canadian Forces may be absent from work, without pay, for one of the following reasons:

• • • If the employee is credited with 12 months of uninterrupted service, to take part in an operation of the Canadian Forces outside Canada, for a maximum period of 18 months;
    • To take part in an operation of the Canadian Forces in Canada whose purpose is to provide assistance in the case of a major disaster;
    • To take part in the annual training for the period prescribed by regulation or, if no such period is prescribed, for a period of not more than 15 days; or
    • To take part in any other operation of the Canadian Forces, in the cases, on the conditions and for the period prescribed by regulation.

Act Respecting Labour Standards, §81.17.1

An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 26 weeks over a period of 12 months, owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence or sexual violence of which the employee has been a victim. Such absence shall be unpaid.

The first two days of absence owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence, sexual violence or crime will be paid.

However, an employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks of unpaid leave, if the employee suffers serious bodily injury during or resulting directly from a criminal offense that renders the employee unable to hold his regular position. In that case, the period of absence shall not begin before the date on which the criminal offense was committed, or before the expiry of the period, where applicable, and shall not end later than 104 weeks after the commission of the criminal offense. This does not apply in case of an employment injury respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases. An employer is prohibited from dismissing, suspending or transferring an employee who has 3 months’ service for the reason of absence due to illness or accident, provided the absence is for not more than 17 weeks within a 12-month period. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.1; Amended by Bill 176 § 33 & 34.

An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 16 weeks over a period of 12 months where he must stay with a relative or a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver, as attested by a professional working in the health and social services sector and governed by the Professional Code, because of a serious illness or a serious accident. Where the relative or person is a minor child, the period of absence is not more than 36 weeks over a period of 12 months. However, if a minor child of the employee has a serious and potentially mortal illness, attested by a medical certificate, the employee is entitled to an extension of the absence, which shall end at the latest 104 weeks after the beginning thereof.

The first two days of absence per year taken for such reasons are paid to employees who have three months of continuous service.

 An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 27 weeks over a period of 12 months where he must stay with a relative, other than his minor child, or a person for whom the employee acts as a caregiver, as attested by a professional working in the health and social services sector and governed by the Professional Code, because of a serious and potentially mortal illness, attested by a medical certificate. An employee is entitled to an extension of the period of absence under the first paragraph of section 79.8, which shall end not later than 104 weeks after the beginning of that period, if the employee must stay with his minor child who suffered serious bodily injury during or resulting directly from a criminal offense that renders the child unable to carry on regular activities. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.8, 79.8.1 – 79.9; Amended by Bill 176 §22 & 23.

An employee is entitled to an extension of the period of absence which shall end not later than 104 weeks after the beginning of that period, if his minor child has suffered serious bodily injury during or resulting directly from a criminal offense that renders the child unable to carry on regular activities or if the child has disappeared. An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks by reason of the death of the employee’s minor child. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.10; Amended by Bill 176 §24-25.

An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks if the employee’s spouse, father, mother or child of full age commit suicide. An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks if the death of the employee’s spouse or child of full age occurs during or results directly from a criminal offense.

An employee would be entitled to 2 paid days of absence in the case of the death or the funeral of the employee’s spouse, child (or the child of the employee’s spouse), father, mother, brother or sister. He may also be absent from work, without pay, for 4 more days on such occasion. An employee may be absent from work for one day, without pay, by reason of the death or the funeral of a son-in-law, daughter-in-law, one of his grandparents or grandchildren, or of the father, mother, brother or sister of his spouse. The employee would be allowed to be absent from work for a period of 104 weeks in the case of a suicide of an employee’s spouse, father, mother or child of full age, (instead of the earlier provision of 52 weeks). Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.11; Amended by Bill 176 §26, 30.

A period of absence under sections 79.9 to 79.12 shall not begin before the date on which the criminal offense that caused the serious bodily injury was committed or before the date of the death or disappearance and shall not end later than 104 weeks after that date. However, during the period of absence, the employee may return to work intermittently or on a part-time basis if the employer consents to it. If during the same 104-week period, a new event occurs, affecting the same child and giving entitlement to a new period of absence, the maximum period of absence for those two events may not exceed 104 weeks from the date of the first event. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79.15; Amended by Bill 176 §29.

An employee may be absent from work for 1 day without reduction of wages, on the day of his or her wedding or civil union. Act Respecting Labour Standards, §79-81.