AbsentEase
Manitoba sick leave law & call-off rules
Manitoba folds sick time into a three-day unpaid family leave that covers the employee's own health, adds a 27-week leave for serious injury or illness, and from October 1, 2026 bars employers from requiring a sick note until an absence passes a week or ten sick days in a year, with the employer paying for any note it does require. Employees owe notice when they quit, and final pay is due within ten working days. Here is what applies in 2026.
Manitoba at a glance
| Statute | The Employment Standards Code (CCSM c. E110) · enforced by Manitoba Employment Standards, Department of Labour and Immigration (1-800-821-4307) |
|---|---|
| Statutory sick leave | 3 unpaid family leave days a year after 30 days, covering the employee's own health |
| Doctor's note | From October 1, 2026: only after more than a week's absence or more than 10 sick days in the year, and the employer pays for it |
| Long-term illness | 27 weeks unpaid in 52, after 90 days, with a certificate |
| Notice of termination | 1 to 8 weeks by length of service after 30 days |
| Final pay | Within 10 working days of termination, vacation pay included |
| Vacation pay | 4%, or 6% after 5 years, always paid out |
| Employee notice to quit | 1 week (under 1 year) or 2 weeks (1+ years) |
Is paid sick leave required in Manitoba?
No paid days; three unpaid family leave days. After 30 days' employment, an employee may take up to three days of unpaid family leave per year for their own health or for family responsibilities (s. 59.3). You may require reasonable verification, a part day may be counted as a full day (s. 59.3(3)), and the days do not carry over. Serious conditions fall under the long-term leave for serious injury or illness: up to 27 weeks in any 52 after 90 days, with a physician's certificate that the employee is expected to be unable to work for at least two weeks (s. 59.10). Laying off or terminating an employee because they intend to take or take a leave is prohibited (s. 60(1)).
How sick leave works in Manitoba
| Family leave | 3 unpaid days per year after 30 days, for the employee's own health or family responsibilities; a part day may be counted as a full day; no carry-over (s. 59.3) |
|---|---|
| Long-term leave for serious injury or illness | Up to 27 weeks in any 52 after 90 days, with a physician's certificate of at least 2 weeks' expected incapacity (s. 59.10, 27 weeks since November 7, 2024) |
| Sick notes from October 1, 2026 | No sick note may be required unless the absence continues for more than one week or the employee has already been absent for illness or injury on more than 10 scheduled workdays in the calendar year, part days counting (ss. 51.1 to 51.3); notes may come from physicians, physician and clinical assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, psychologists or midwives; the employer reimburses the reasonable cost of any note it requires within 30 days |
| Verification for family leave | Reasonable verification may be required, but not a sick note contrary to Division 8.1 |
| Pay | Unpaid, unless your contract, policy or collective agreement says otherwise |
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 Manitoba's statute.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and dismissal in Manitoba
Manitoba's own just-cause fact sheet is the clearest statement in the country of what an attendance dismissal needs: the expectation was communicated, the employee had time and resources to meet it, and was warned of the consequences, because being late, missing work and poor performance are not necessarily serious enough on their own. Build the policy around that, and around the three family leave days that cannot be the reason for a layoff or termination (s. 60(1)). From October 1, 2026 the sick-note rule changes how short absences are verified: for an absence of a week or less, with fewer than ten sick days so far in the year, you cannot require a note at all, and when you can, you pay for it. That makes the call-off record itself the evidence: what was reported, when, and whether the employee followed the rule. A no-call no-show outside the protected leaves is culpable conduct for progressive discipline; a call-off hotline or text-based call-off line keeps the time-stamped record Employment Standards will ask for, and the ten-working-day final-pay clock starts the day employment ends.
After a no call, no show termination in Manitoba
| Does the statute define job abandonment? | No. The statute does not define job abandonment or a consecutive-days threshold. At common law abandonment is a resignation, and the test is objective: would a reasonable person, looking at what the employee said and did, conclude they clearly and unequivocally intended to give up the job? An employer that assumed a quit after silence, without first telling the employee that silence would be treated as a resignation, has lost on that point (Hettrick v. Triple F Paving, 2021 ONSC 208). (common law; Betts v. IBM Canada, 2015 ONSC 5298) |
|---|---|
| Final pay if you treat it as a dismissal | All wages, including pay in lieu of notice and vacation pay, are due within 10 working days after the termination. (The Employment Standards Code s. 86(1)(b)) |
| Final pay if you treat it as a resignation | Same 10-working-day deadline. The employee owed you one or two weeks' notice (s. 62.1), but the Code gives no right to deduct for notice not given. (ss. 62.1, 86(1)(b)) |
| Vacation pay at separation | Always owed: 4% of wages (6% after 5 years), all outstanding vacation pay within 10 working days of the last day. (s. 39) |
| 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 Manitoba
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 Manitoba. 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 Manitoba
| Length of service | Minimum notice (or pay in lieu) |
|---|---|
| Under 30 days | None |
| 30 days to under 1 year | 1 week |
| 1 to under 3 years | 2 weeks |
| 3 to under 5 years | 4 weeks |
| 5 to under 10 years | 6 weeks |
| 10 years or more | 8 weeks |
The Employment Standards Code s. 61(2), with pay in lieu. No notice is owed where the employee is terminated for just cause (s. 62(1)(h)); the onus is on the employer, and the province's own fact sheet says being late, missing work and poor performance are not necessarily serious enough on their own: show the employee was told the expectation, given time and resources, and warned of the consequences. Other exceptions cover the first 30 days, fixed terms of a year or less, construction and casual work, and a contract frustrated by an unforeseeable circumstance. Group terminations of 50 or more within four weeks need 10, 14 or 18 weeks' notice (ss. 66 and 67). The common law usually requires more notice than the statute; the Code is the floor.
Final pay and vacation pay
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is dismissed | All wages, including pay in lieu of notice and vacation pay, within 10 working days after the termination | The Employment Standards Code ss. 61, 86(1)(b) |
| Employee quits or abandons the job | Same 10-working-day deadline. The employee owed 1 week (under a year) or 2 weeks (a year or more) of notice (s. 62.1); the Code gives no right to deduct for notice not given | ss. 62.1, 86(1)(b) |
| Vacation pay | 4% of wages (6% after 5 years), all outstanding vacation pay within 10 working days of the last day | s. 39 |
| Unused family leave days | Not paid out: the days are unpaid leave and do not carry over | s. 59.3 |
A temporary layoff of more than 8 weeks in 16 becomes a termination. A contract, policy or collective agreement that gives more than the Code applies in its place.
Leave employers must provide in Manitoba
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Family leave (own or family health) | Yes — unpaid | 3 days a year after 30 days (s. 59.3) |
| Long-term serious injury or illness | Yes — unpaid | 27 weeks in 52 after 90 days (s. 59.10) |
| Bereavement | Yes — unpaid | 5 days after 30 days' employment, including pregnancy loss (s. 59.4) |
| Interpersonal violence | Yes — partly paid | Per 52 weeks after 90 days: 10 days (5 of them paid) plus 17 continuous weeks (s. 59.11) |
| Compassionate care | Yes — unpaid | 28 weeks after 90 days, with a certificate (s. 59.2) |
| Critical illness | Yes — unpaid | 37 weeks (child) or 17 weeks (adult) after 30 days (s. 59.8) |
| Organ donation | Yes — unpaid | 13 weeks (s. 59.6) |
| Reservist | Yes — unpaid | After 3 months (s. 59.5) |
| Citizenship ceremony | Yes — unpaid | 4 hours (s. 59.7) |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | Jury Act protection |
| Vacation | Yes | 2 weeks (3 after 5 years), pay 4% / 6% |
Attachment leave for adoption or surrogacy (16 weeks after 7 months, since June 1, 2026) and the death or disappearance of a child leave also exist. Voting time comes from The Elections Act rather than the Code.
The Manitoba 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.