Article 24 - Parental rights

24.01 Type and number of days of special leave

The Employer grants an employee:

1. five (5) calendar days of leave for the death of the following family members: spouse or child;
2. three (3) calendar days of leave for the death of the following family members: father, mother, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law or son-in-law;
3. two (2) calendar days of leave for the death of a spouse’s child (with the exception of the ones stipulated in 24.01-1);
4. one (1) calendar day of leave for the death of a sister-in-law, brother-in-law, grandparent or grandchild.

For the deaths mentioned in this clause, an employee is entitled to one (1) additional day of leave for travel purposes if the funeral takes place two hundred and forty-one (241) kilometres or more, or one hundred and fifty (150) miles or more, away from the employee’s place of residence.

For the purposes of applying this clause, the definition of spouse is the definition given in Article 1 (Definition of terms).

24.02 Start of the absence

The leave provided for in any subclause of 24.01 may be taken on the date chosen by the employee between the date of death and the day of the funeral inclusively. Leave extending over more than one (1) calendar day must be taken continuously.

The leave provided for in any subclause of 24.01 may begin on the day before the death when the death is planned under the Act respecting end-of-life care. The employee must notify the Employer of their absence as soon as possible.

24.03

 Notwithstanding clause 24.02, employees may use one (1) of their days of special leave under 24.01 to attend a burial or cremation when it occurs outside the stipulated period of time.

24.04 Salary

The days of absence mentioned in the preceding clauses are paid at the employee’s rate of pay. However, only the days on which the employee would have worked during this period of absence are paid under this Article.

24.05 Attestation of the events

In all cases, employees must notify their immediate supervisor and submit an attestation of the facts upon request. In this Article, “day of absence” means a full period of twenty-four (24) hours.

24.06

 Employees who are called to serve as juror or witness in a case in which they are not an interested party receive the difference between their regular salary and the allowance paid by the court for the period of juror or witness duty.

In the case of civil proceedings against an employee in the framework of the normal performance of their duties, the employee does not suffer any loss of regular salary for the time they are required to be present in court.

24.07

 Full-time employees are entitled to one (1) week of paid leave for their marriage or civil union.

Part-time employees are also entitled to this leave, prorated to the number of days scheduled for the position that they hold. If they have an assignment on the date they go on leave, the leave is paid in proportion to the number of days scheduled in the assignment, including the number of days in the position that they hold if they have not temporarily left the position, where applicable.

Employees who do not hold positions are entitled to this leave, prorated to the number of days scheduled in the assignment held on the date the employee goes on leave.

This leave for marriage or civil union is granted providing that the employee requests it at least four (4) weeks in advance.

The date of the leave is determined after agreement between the Employer and the employee, and must include the day of the marriage or civil union.

24.08

Employees who sit on the board of directors of a health and social services agency or a health and social services council is given leave with no loss of remuneration to attend board meetings after a request to this effect to their immediate supervisor, who cannot refuse without a valid reason.

Upon request to their immediate supervisor, employees who sit on the board of directors of the institution are given leave with no loss of remuneration to attend board meetings.

24.09

Employees are entitled to a rest period of fifteen (15) minutes per half day of work.

Leave for family responsibilities

24.10

After notifying the Employer as early as possible, employees may take up to ten (10) days of leave without pay per year to meet obligations related to the care, health or education of their child or the child of their spouse, or due to the state of health of their spouse, father, mother, brother, sister or grandparent.

The days off that are accordingly taken are deducted from the employee’s annual bank of sick leave or are taken without pay, as the employee chooses.

This leave may be divided into half-days if the Employer so consents.

Employees must take reasonable means available to limit their use of leave stipulated in this clause and to limit the duration of such leave.

24.11

Employees may take a leave of absence from work in accordance with the application of Sections 79.8 to 79.15 of the Act respecting labour standards¹ (CQLR, c. N-1.1) by informing the Employer of the reasons for their absence as soon as possible and providing proof justifying the absence.

During this leave without pay, employees accumulate seniority and experience. They continue to participate in the basic health insurance plan by paying their share of the premiums. They can also continue to participate in optional insurance plans that are applicable to them by making a request at the start of the leave and by paying the full amount of the premiums.

When the leave without pay ends, the employees may return to their position or, where applicable, to a position that they obtained at their request in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement. If that position has been abolished or if the employees have been bumped, they are entitled to the benefits they would have enjoyed had they been at work.

Similarly, upon returning from the leave without pay, employees who do not hold a position return to the assignment they held when they went on leave, if that assignment is still in progress after the leave ends.

If the assignment has ended, the employees are entitled to any other assignment in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement.