2. Learn about taking a short leave

People who need a day or a few days to care for or support someone who's sick or injured may be able to take:

• family responsibility leave, or
• infectious disease emergency leave.

Your employer does not have to pay you for these leaves, unless you have a contract or workplace policy that says they do. Read more in the Answer under the heading Getting paid.

If the person you're caring for is very ill or at risk of dying, Steps 4 and 5 talk about other leaves that you could get.

Family responsibility leave

You may be able to take family responsibility leave if you worked for your employer for at least 2 weeks in a row.

You can use up to 3 days of family responsibility leave each calendar year if a family member:

• is sick or injured
• has a medical emergency
• has an “urgent matter”

A calendar year goes from January 1 and December 31.

You get all 3 days even if you only start working for your employer partway through the year.

Family responsibility leave applies to certain family members, including a relative who depends on you for care or assistance.

What’s an “urgent matter”

Something is an urgent matter if:

• you did not plan it or it's out of your control, and
• there could be serious problems if nothing is done to deal with it.

For example, it might be an urgent matter if your babysitter cancels and there's no one to look after your child.

Infectious disease emergency leave (IDEL)

You can take IDEL if you're caring for or supporting a family member because of COVID-19, for example:

• taking an older parent to get a COVID-19 vaccine, or
• caring for your child while their babysitter has COVID-19.

IDEL applies to certain family members, including someone who thinks of you as a family member.

You may also be able to take IDEL if you need time off because of COVID-19.

How long you can take

There's no limit on the number of days for IDEL.

But you can only take the leave for as long as you need it.

Tell your employer

Tell your employer as soon as you know you need a family responsibility leave or IDEL.

If you must start your leave before talking to your employer, contact them as soon as you can.

It's a good idea to tell your employer in writing by email, text message, or letter.

If you speak to your employer, send them a written note right after. Include what you told them and when. That way, you have proof that you told your employer. This will help if your employer tries to punish you for taking time off work.

Proving you need a leave

Your employer can ask for “reasonable” proof that you need to take a leave. What's reasonable depends on things like:

• how long you need the leave to be
• any past leaves you had or times you were off work
• whether you can get proof of why you need the leave and how much it would cost

The law says your employer cannot require you to give them a medical note from a doctor, nurse, or psychologist.

Your employer can only require other proof, for example, a note from your child's daycare that says that they're closed.

For family responsibility leave, your employer does not have the right to know about your family member's medical condition or treatment.