According to the CBC, B.C. government officials are reevaluating the Employment Standards Act and are considering adding seven mandatory unpaid sick days to it. This means all employers, even those who have many short-term or part-time workers — roles often filled by students — will be obligated to allow leaves of absence for either illness or family/personal issues.
Larger companies often already have a plan in place for crisis situations and long-term injuries or illness, but smaller businesses and entrepreneurs usually don’t. For employees who don’t have a plan, B.C. currently allows for five days family leave, but has no sick leave protection. Of the Canadian provinces and territories, B.C. and Nunavut are the only two that have no protection in place.
The CBC also stated that the majority of the committee reviewing the Employment Standards Act agreed that seven days sick time was adequate, but that “most employers are opposed to sick leave.” Since B.C. doesn’t have protection for sick days, people may find themselves going into work even when they’re too sick to be there, simply because they need the money or are afraid of being fired.
Although it’s about time the act is reexamined — it hasn’t been altered since 1994 — the changes aren’t enough. If there’s a family emergency such as a serious illness or death, it’s going to take more than a few days to sort out what needs to be sorted and to grieve. Same with an injury; a broken leg takes six to eight weeks to heal, and if you work in a job where you’re expected to stand or walk most of your shift, seven days won’t cover it by a long shot.
I realize these are special cases. Not everyone will have a major injury or suffer the illness or death of a relative while working, but for those who do, there needs to be something better in place than seven mandatory days off. Which leads to another issue: these days are unpaid. No, I don’t expect employers to cover two months of wages while someone is healing, but there needs to be a plan for when things like this do happen.
Beyond this, we need to talk about what’s not being talked about: mental health. According to the Globe and Mail, there are upwards of 500,000 Canadians are unable to work due to mental health struggles every week. Although I’m an advocate for a personal self-care day once in a while, this obviously isn’t a solution in and of itself, but it can become necessary on days where our stress levels are maxed out.
So yes, it’s great the government is reevaluating our Employment Standards Act — as students working in short-term or part-time work, we need to be able to book days off for midterms, or emergencies, or when we catch the fourth cold of the year, or even for a personal day once in a while.
What’s not so great is that the government doesn’t seem to be taking into account the fact that seven days isn’t enough in most cases, and that these days are unpaid. Even with the right to call in sick if necessary, people may not do it because they need to pay the bills, or may fear the backlash from employers when they do.
I’m not proposing 30 days paid sick leave for all employees per year, but I am proposing evaluation of special cases, and flexibility from employers. If nothing else, this proposed change is a sign that the government is aware of the needs of part-time workers, and by extension, students. Here’s hoping this conversation leads somewhere.
Image: Elyssa English/The Cascade
