Rights Review

We never expect to be sick, but when it does happen, as employees you do have rights that are important to know about. Let's review!

You will find the provisions for Sick Leave on your Master Agreement handbook Article 35 Sections 4 and 5. Here are some important notes to keep:

1. It is your responsability to notity the agency about requesting sick leave. Section 4(A) mentions that you may have a responsible person to make the notification for the employee, it is reasonable to beleive that if you are incapacitated and are unable to speak that you would have someone to speak on your behalf, nevertheless, in any other normal circumstances you are responsable to request sick leave.

2. You must use the designated phone number or an alternative number provided by the agency for notifications (ex. Direct Supervisor, House Supervisor). Please note that calling a co-worker does not count as notification and you may be awarded AWOL.

3. In the event you are unable to reach your supervisor or contact the official in charge of receiving the leave request, you may leave a voicemail stating your request and that will count as notification. As this is an unusual method, we highly advise to keep a record of the phone call, management may try to argue that you did not leave a voicemail, my best advise is to also send an email to your direct supervisor stating that you are requesting SL and you left a voicemail, this will ensure you have a paper trail of your call and message.

4. If you expect to be out for more than one day, you must notify the expected date of return. You are not required to call in every day after notification, however, ensure you have propper medical documentation (doctor's note) if you plan to be out for more than 3 days in a row. Section 5 (A 1, 2).

5. Section 4(D) covers that you may request SL in advanced for medical appointments or if you are caring for a family member who is incapacitated or will need your assistance in a medical appointment (this usually includes taking care of our children when they are sick and taking a family relative who is incapacitated to a medical appointment).

6. If you have an unsufficient Sick Leave balance, you may request toher types of leave in leu of SL such as Leave Without Pay or even Annual Leave. Please note that this is subject to approval by your superviso, however it is highly unlikely for this to not be approved, specially with medical documentation.

7. You are NOT required to reveal the nature of your illness for approval of Sick Leave Article 35 Section 4(H). By simply stating that you are requesting sick leave is enough for it to be considered a request.

8. If the agency beleives that you are abusing sick leave, generally due to a pattern of leave, you may be placed on a "leave restriction", where you will be required to present medical documentation for every instance you call out for SL. This restriction usually lasts 6 months, but you may request a revision after 3 months if there have been no call outs during that time. If the restriction is to be continued beyond 6 months, the agency must notify you in writing Section 5 (E).

We know that life happens, we get sick, we have family that depends on our care and our mental health is placed at risk every day. I highly suggest to provide a medical certification as much as possible when calling out for SL. Not only do you have evidence that you are not abusing your leave, but you make it difficult for the agency to argue against your use of Sick Leave. If you plan to use SL frequently due to a chronic condition, please consider FMLA as this will protect you under the law.

Let us know what you think about this article of if you have any other questions regarding it.

Have any other articles you would like for us to review? Let us know so we can cover it on our next post!