While Newfoundland and Labrador employees who take three or more consecutive days of sick leave are no longer required to provide their employer with a doctor’s note, it doesn’t mean employers can’t demand evidence of illness or injury, says Tim Young, a St. John’s-based partner at Curtis Dawe Lawyers.

“All the legislation does is eliminate the statutory requirement for a doctor’s note. It doesn’t mean that employers can’t formulate their own policies regarding justification for medical absences.”

Bills 82 and 101, making changes to various leave provisions in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Labour Standards Act, came into effect on Dec. 4, 2024.

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Bill 82 creates a new statutory leave for long-term illness, long-term injury and organ donation. The law entitles an employee with 30 days’ continuous service to an unpaid leave of up to 27 weeks in a 52-week period to get medical care, recover from a long-term illness, injury or organ donation. Eligibility for these leaves requires a certificate from a doctor or nurse practitioner confirming the necessity of the leave and its start and estimated end dates.

The legislation also provides that employees with 30 days’ continuous service can take up to 104 weeks of unpaid leave in a 104-week period. But there’s a catch: the injury or illness must have been a result of a criminal offence to which the employee isn’t a party or contributor by way of gross negligence.

“Implicitly, the reason for the longer period when a criminal offence is involved is the realization that victims of crime must also deal with the mental-health side of their experience,” says Young.

Again, employees must provide appropriate medical certificates. They must also give two weeks’ notice if they intend to exercise these leaves, absent a valid reason for not doing so. Finally, employers can’t dismiss employees for taking these leaves and must reinstate them “on terms and conditions no less beneficial” than when their leave began.

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Bill 82 also deals with reservist leave, which allows employees who are members of the military reserves to be absent for deployments and training. The changes deal primarily with notice.

Employees who wish to take reservist leave must provide at least 30 days’ written notice of their intention, a reduction from the previous 60-day standard. If changes occur to the leave duration, employees must provide notice as soon as practicable. Within four weeks thereafter, employees must provide the actual new end date for the leave, a decrease from the prior requirement of two weeks.

Where the employee doesn’t give notice of the new end date within the prescribed period, the employer can defer the date of re-employment for up to four weeks after the employee does inform the employer of the new date. The four-week deferral replaces the pre-amendment entitlement of at least two weeks.

“The main thrust of the reservist changes is to bring the province in line with other jurisdictions across the country,” Young says.

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