For the lawyers: Stress leave

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Hey CP, any chance any lawyers lurking around? I wanted to know what the rights are of Canadian workers in regards to stress leave. A co worker was recently in court and had a rather bad judgement made against them, which could lead to a very large and damaging lawsuit. They called in to work and they were denied a day off. Any input on this? Thanks in advance.

[BlackArcher101]

Did they bother seeing a doc before calling in to work to claim stress leave? Was it a day off with pay or no pay?

[Notorious Honey Badger]

unpaid day off that looks bad on their record. the ruling was the same day they came under a great deal of stress due to the nature of the ruling

[Rathji]

I am not a lawyer, but here is my thoughts:

If they go to the doctor, and get recommended stress leave, AFAIK the company really had no choice. Like a WCB claim, I think they have some time to see a doctor and file the paperwork, after the 'incident'. I think it is 3 days for WCB, not sure about short/long term injury type stuff.

I can't see any HR department risking the fallout if they tried to deny stress leave, unless there is obvious evidence of abuse of the system.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I'm curious, why wouldn't you just call in sick in that situation?

As far as I'm concerned any scenario where I'm unfit to come to work would fall under that category. That's more my opinion that any sort of legal classification.

Further to that, would your employer also deny that person a day off to grieve if they had a family member die? Or if they were in a serious non-injury accident (maybe they ran over a pedestrian or something)?

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I'm curious, why wouldn't you just call in sick in that situation?

As far as I'm concerned any scenario where I'm unfit to come to work would fall under that category. That's more my opinion that any sort of legal classification.

Further to that, would your employer also deny that person a day off to grieve if they had a family member die? Or if they were in a serious non-injury accident (maybe they ran over a pedestrian or something)?

I think most office/salaried positions work just like that. "I'm unfit to work today" is just a sick day. If it stretches out into multiple days it ends up going into disability claims and what not.

But I'm wondering of Honey Badger's friend is more of a shift work/hourly position, in that the manager suddenly has a shift fill and "I need stress leave" just ends up sounding like another excuse from their staff. It's going to be different in all environments.

But yeah, generally "i need a sick day" doesn't necessarily mean "laid up in bed" in a lot of places.

[afc wimbledon]

There's no such thing as a one day stress leave, in fact in very few contracts is there any such thing as stress leave at all, it falls under the general sickness provisions, so if a doctor decides you are unfit for work you are fine otherewise you just have to suck it up.

There is little that can be done after the fact re stress, now the worker may have a greviance that he/she was denied a day off, that would depend on what they asked for, a sick day or just a general leave day.

Your best bet is to head into work then burst into tears and sob hysterically every 3 or 4 minutes until the supervisor calls me (union rep) and says 'can you drive her home she's freaking everyone out?'.

[Five-hole]

Ha, I thought this was about lawyers taking stress leave.

[Jacks]

I'm dealing with this right now. The employee went and got a doctors note and is now off for the next 3 weeks. Nothing I can do about it and I have to hold the job for them. Pretty sure the stress had nothing to do with the job either, just life problems.

[Dion]

I'm not a lawyer but I have at one time left work on stress leave. To do this I had to see my GP and she gave me a medical note that gave me 5 weeks off. You have to have a very good reason to get one. Once the employer gets it, there is little they can do about it.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

There's no such thing as a one day stress leave, in fact in very few contracts is there any such thing as stress leave at all, it falls under the general sickness provisions, so if a doctor decides you are unfit for work you are fine otherewise you just have to suck it up.

There is little that can be done after the fact re stress, now the worker may have a greviance that he/she was denied a day off, that would depend on what they asked for, a sick day or just a general leave day.

Your best bet is to head into work then burst into tears and sob hysterically every 3 or 4 minutes until the supervisor calls me (union rep) and says 'can you drive her home she's freaking everyone out?'.

It also depends on whether the worker is in a unionzed workplace

[Locke]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

There's no such thing as a one day stress leave, in fact in very few contracts is there any such thing as stress leave at all, it falls under the general sickness provisions, so if a doctor decides you are unfit for work you are fine otherewise you just have to suck it up.

There is little that can be done after the fact re stress, now the worker may have a greviance that he/she was denied a day off, that would depend on what they asked for, a sick day or just a general leave day.

Your best bet is to head into work then burst into tears and sob hysterically every 3 or 4 minutes until the supervisor calls me (union rep) and says 'can you drive her home she's freaking everyone out?'.

Workers of the world Unite!

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Locke

Workers of the world Unite!

All you have to lose are your chains!

[Table 5]

Man, having employees sounds like a giant pain in the butt.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by fredr123

It also depends on whether the worker is in a unionzed workplace

.

Not really, it depends on the contract, most contracts don't give an employee a right to a day off unless they are sick.

If I was this workers union rep I would almost certainly be telling them they were SOL as you can't call in and ask for a stress day, you should have just used a sick day/24 hour flu.

Now if that gets refused and you still have sick days left we're filing a greviance baby!

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Man, having employees sounds like a giant pain in the butt.

Its almost as bad as being a union rep. Trust me the amount of times I have had to start my advice with 'just because your in a union doesn't mean you don't have to do your job!'

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Dion

I'm not a lawyer but I have at one time left work on stress leave. To do this I had to see my GP and she gave me a medical note that gave me 5 weeks off. You have to have a very good reason to get one. Once the employer gets it, there is little they can do about it.

To the bolded part, not really. Any crackpot doctor will write you one. Just walk into a medi-clinic and it is yours for the fee.

But to the second part, yes, there is very little the employer can do once you provide them a note for stress leave - whether EI pays you or not, is an entirely different story as their criteria is a little more stringent.

I doubt anything will happen if you're covered under a collective agreement. Most unions would be all over that and would file a grievance if your employer tried to discipline you for that.

Most employers would be somewhat compassionate in the instance above - my only other worry without knowing the full situation, if your friend has a reputation of being a poor employee or with a history of excessive absenteeism, then I can see why the employer would act they way they did.

But, I would encourage your friend to get to a Dr's note and give that to your employer for the day he was absent or if he needs any additional time off.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Trust me the amount of times I have had to start my advice with 'just because your in a union doesn't mean you don't have to do your job!'

What? Why else would anyone work for a union?

[Hilch]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

To the bolded part, not really. Any crackpot doctor will write you one. Just walk into a medi-clinic and it is yours for the fee.

This is so true it is scary! I got into a car accident about a year ago and hurt my knee and just wanted to see if I could get something for it. Ended up walking out of the office with 8 weeks off and didn't even ask or really want it. But truth be told I took it off anyways...

[Dion]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

To the bolded part, not really. Any crackpot doctor will write you one. Just walk into a medi-clinic and it is yours for the fee.

But to the second part, yes, there is very little the employer can do once you provide them a note for stress leave - whether EI pays you or not, is an entirely different story as their criteria is a little more stringent.

I doubt anything will happen if you're covered under a collective agreement. Most unions would be all over that and would file a grievance if your employer tried to discipline you for that.

Most employers would be somewhat compassionate in the instance above - my only other worry without knowing the full situation, if your friend has a reputation of being a poor employee or with a history of excessive absenteeism, then I can see why the employer would act they way they did.

But, I would encourage your friend to get to a Dr's note and give that to your employer for the day he was absent or if he needs any additional time off.

Having a short and long term disability plan at work pays for any stress leave. EI usually doesn't become a part of the situation unless the situation becomes long term.