AbsentEase
British Columbia sick leave law & call-off rules
British Columbia mandates five paid and three unpaid sick days a year after ninety days, and since November 2025 bars employers from asking for a sick note for an employee's first two short absences of the year. Final pay is due within 48 hours of a dismissal, and the Employment Standards Branch spells out the warning process a just-cause attendance dismissal has to follow. Here is what applies in 2026.
British Columbia at a glance
| Statute | Employment Standards Act (RSBC 1996, c. 113) · enforced by the Employment Standards Branch, BC Ministry of Labour (1-833-236-3700) |
|---|---|
| Statutory sick leave | 5 paid + 3 unpaid days per calendar year after 90 days |
| Doctor's note | Not for the first 2 absences of 5 days or less in a year; reasonably sufficient proof otherwise |
| Long-term illness | 27 weeks unpaid in 52, with a certificate |
| Notice of termination | 1 week after 3 months, 2 after a year, 3 after 3 years plus 1 per year, to 8 weeks |
| Final pay | Within 48 hours of a dismissal; within 6 days of a resignation |
| Vacation pay | 4% after 5 days' employment, 6% after 5 years, always paid out |
| Employee notice to quit | None required by the Act |
Is paid sick leave required in British Columbia?
Yes. After 90 consecutive days of employment, every employee is entitled in each calendar year to five days of paid leave and three days of unpaid leave for personal illness or injury (s. 49.1 and Regulation s. 45.031), paid at an average day's pay over the previous 30 calendar days (s. 49.1(3)). Unused days do not carry over. The employer may ask for reasonably sufficient proof (s. 49.1(2)), but since November 12, 2025 it must not request a specified health record for the employee's first two health-related absences of five days or less in a calendar year (s. 49.2 and Regulation s. 45.033); the Branch says a verbal or written confirmation should usually be enough for a short illness. Ending employment or changing a condition of employment because of a Part 6 leave is prohibited (s. 54(2)).
How sick leave works in British Columbia
| Paid sick days | 5 per calendar year after 90 consecutive days, at an average day's pay (s. 49.1, Reg. s. 45.031) |
|---|---|
| Unpaid sick days | 3 more per calendar year (s. 49.1) |
| Carry-over | None: the entitlement resets each calendar year |
| Doctor's notes | No specified health record may be requested for the first 2 absences of 5 days or less in a calendar year (s. 49.2, in force November 12, 2025); reasonably sufficient proof, such as a written statement, may still be asked for; medical information may be sought for accommodation or return to work |
| Serious personal illness or injury | Up to 27 weeks unpaid in 52 where the employee cannot work for at least a week, with a doctor's or nurse practitioner's certificate (s. 49.01, in force November 2025) |
| Partial days | The Act is silent; set the rule in your policy |
| Employer plans | A plan that meets or exceeds the Act applies; the Act is the minimum |
The rules that apply across Canada
The duty to accommodate
Every province's human rights code, and the Canadian Human Rights Act for federally regulated employers, requires accommodating a disability to the point of undue hardship, and "disability" includes mental illness and addiction. Absences tied to a disability cannot simply collect points: tribunals expect the employer to ask what is going on, consider modified duties or a leave, and document the effort. Long or repeated absences an employee cannot control are "innocent" (non-culpable) absenteeism, which is not misconduct and cannot be disciplined; employment can end for it only when the record shows the employee is unlikely to attend regularly in the foreseeable future and accommodation has been exhausted.
Employment Insurance
Service Canada, not the employer, decides whether a former employee gets regular EI benefits. Someone who quit without just cause or was dismissed for misconduct is disqualified, so the reason code on the Record of Employment and the call-off record behind it matter: a no-call no-show treated as abandonment is usually coded as a quit, and a dismissal for breaking a known attendance rule is argued as misconduct. Either way the employer's evidence is the written policy and the time-stamped record of what the employee did and did not report.
Unionized workplaces
Where a collective agreement applies, attendance discipline follows its just-cause and progressive-discipline clauses and any grievance goes to arbitration. Arbitrators expect the same things the statutes do: a written rule the employee knew about, consistent enforcement, and a contemporaneous record of each absence.
Banks, airlines, rail, interprovincial trucking, telecoms and a few other industries are federally regulated and follow the Canada Labour Code instead of British Columbia's statute.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and dismissal in British Columbia
British Columbia tells employers exactly how an attendance dismissal has to be built. A call-off that is one of the eight statutory sick days, a family responsibility day or any other Part 6 leave cannot cost the employee their job or a condition of employment (s. 54(2)), and for the first two short absences of the year you may not even ask for a note. Beyond those days the Branch's own guidance on just cause applies to absenteeism and tardiness by name: the standard was communicated, the employee had a reasonable chance to meet it, was warned in writing that failing to meet it would mean termination, and still failed. Skip a step and the dismissal owes compensation for length of service, due within 48 hours. The human-rights duty to accommodate a disability runs alongside, and the government notes it can outlast the 27-week leave. The record that proves each step, the written rule, each warning, each reported and unreported absence with a time stamp, is what a call-off hotline or text-based call-off line produces automatically.
After a no call, no show termination in British Columbia
| Does the statute define job abandonment? | No. The Act is silent; the Branch's interpretation guideline requires clear and unequivocal facts that the employee intended to quit and carried out an act inconsistent with continuing employment, with the burden on the employer. The Court of Appeal treated an employee who stayed away after a house fire as fired, not resigned (Beggs v. Westport Foods, 2011 BCCA 76). Once you treat a no-show as a termination, the 48-hour final-pay clock runs. (ESB Interpretation Guideline s. 63; Burnaby Select Taxi, BC EST #D091/96) |
|---|---|
| Final pay if you treat it as a dismissal | All wages, including compensation for length of service and vacation pay, are due within 48 hours after the employer ends employment. (Employment Standards Act s. 18(1)) |
| Final pay if you treat it as a resignation | All wages are due within 6 days after the employee ends employment. The Act does not require an employee to give notice, so a walk-out leaves nothing to recover. (s. 18(2)) |
| Vacation pay at separation | Always owed: 4% of wages (6% after 5 consecutive years), paid as wages within the same 48-hour or 6-day deadline. (ss. 18, 58) |
| Employment Insurance | Service Canada decides. A claimant who voluntarily left without just cause, or who lost the job because of their own misconduct, is disqualified from regular benefits; a no-call no-show treated as abandonment is usually coded as a quit (Record of Employment code E) and a dismissal for breaking a known attendance rule as a dismissal (code M). Either way Service Canada may ask for the written policy and the call-off record. (Employment Insurance Act, ss. 29–30) |
Before treating silence as a resignation, try to reach the employee more than once, in writing, and keep the attempts: an employer who assumes abandonment after one missed shift usually ends up having dismissed someone, with the notice and severance that follow.
Write an attendance policy that fits British Columbia
A written call-off rule, a single channel employees use to report an absence, and a carve-out for the statutory leaves above are what make attendance discipline hold up in British Columbia. Our attendance policy guide walks through each section, and what a call-off hotline is explains the record it produces.
Minimum notice of termination in British Columbia
| Length of service | Minimum notice (or pay in lieu) |
|---|---|
| Under 3 months | None |
| 3 consecutive months to under 12 months | 1 week |
| 12 months to under 3 years | 2 weeks |
| 3 years | 3 weeks |
| Each year after 3 | 1 more week, to a maximum of 8 weeks |
Employment Standards Act s. 63: the liability is discharged by written notice, pay in lieu or a combination, or where the employee quits, retires or is dismissed for just cause (s. 63(3)(c)). The employer bears the burden on just cause, and for minor misconduct such as absenteeism or lateness the Branch requires a communicated standard, a chance to meet it, a clear warning that failure will mean termination, and continued failure; a mistake is not wilful misconduct. Fifty or more terminations at one location within two months need additional notice to the employees, any union and the Minister (s. 64). The common law usually requires more notice than the statute; the Act is the floor.
Final pay and vacation pay
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is dismissed | All wages, including compensation for length of service and vacation pay, within 48 hours after the employer ends employment | Employment Standards Act ss. 18(1), 63 |
| Employee quits or abandons the job | All wages within 6 days after the employee ends employment; the Act requires no notice from the employee | s. 18(2) |
| Vacation pay | 4% of wages after 5 days' employment, 6% after 5 consecutive years, paid out as wages on termination | s. 58 |
| Unused paid sick days | Not paid out: the entitlement resets each calendar year | s. 49.1 |
If an employee gives notice and the employer ends employment before it runs out, the lesser of the remaining notice or the s. 63 amount is owed (s. 63(6)).
Leave employers must provide in British Columbia
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sick leave | Yes — partly paid | 5 paid + 3 unpaid days per calendar year after 90 days (s. 49.1) |
| Serious personal illness or injury | Yes — unpaid | 27 weeks in 52 with a certificate (s. 49.01) |
| Family responsibility | Yes — unpaid | 5 days per employment year for a family member's care, health or education (s. 52) |
| Bereavement | Yes — unpaid | 3 days (s. 53) |
| Domestic or sexual violence | Yes — partly paid | 5 paid + 5 unpaid days and up to 15 weeks a year (s. 52.5) |
| Compassionate care | Yes — unpaid | 27 weeks in 52 with a certificate (s. 52.1) |
| Critical illness or injury | Yes — unpaid | 36 weeks (child) or 16 weeks (adult) (s. 52.11) |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | As required, protected by s. 54 (s. 55) |
| Reservist | Yes — unpaid | Training up to 24 months in 60; deployment as needed (s. 52.2) |
| Vacation | Yes | 2 weeks (3 after 5 years), pay 4% / 6% |
The disappearance or death of a child leaves (ss. 52.3 and 52.4) also exist. Voting time comes from the Election Act rather than the Employment Standards Act.
The British Columbia employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — the call-off deadline and channel, the steps of progressive discipline, the no-call no-show rule, and a carve-out for the statutory leaves and accommodated absences above — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Employment-standards complaints, human rights applications and arbitrations are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Discipline progressively and consistently. Canadian adjudicators expect warnings before dismissal for attendance, and uneven enforcement turns a lawful dismissal into a reprisal or discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying any step — a statutory sick or family day, or an absence tied to a disability, gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing jurisdictions? See every published guide on the Canadian sick leave laws hub, or the US state guides.