1 articles · Updated · Canadian HR Reporter · Jun 22
Summary
June 1 brought a new Manitoba entitlement: workers with at least seven months of service can take up to 16 continuous weeks of unpaid leave for adoption or a child born through surrogacy.
Bill 10 lets the leave start up to six weeks before placement, protects the right even if notice is short, and allows parental leave to be paused and resumed around the attachment leave.
Oct. 1 will add a second compliance change: employers cannot demand a sick note unless an absence lasts more than one week or an employee has missed more than 10 scheduled workdays in the year.
Those rules also widen acceptable medical providers beyond physicians and require employers to repay reasonable note fees within 30 days, or the unpaid amount is treated as wages owing.
The changes, backed by Labour Minister Malaya Marcelino, close a surrogacy-leave gap and move Manitoba closer to provinces that already curb sick-note demands for short absences.