By OptiVal Editorial Desk
Sick leave in Ontario is only three days, but it is one of the most mishandled rules in small business payroll. A handbook still says bring a doctor note after two days. A remote employee who leaves at lunch with a migraine gets coded as a full unpaid day and loses the wages for the morning. Each of those can breach the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). This guide sets out the three days, the proof rules, and what happens when illness runs longer.
Ontario sets the rules out in Sick leave: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act. General information, not legal advice. If a contract gives a greater right or benefit, the contract terms apply instead.
What sick leave in Ontario actually gives an employee
Most employees covered by the ESA can take up to 3 days of unpaid, job protected sick leave in each calendar year, once they have worked for the employer for at least 2 consecutive weeks. The leave is for the employee’s own illness, injury or medical emergency, and it does not matter who caused the injury.
Planned surgery counts too: pre planned elective surgery for an illness or injury qualifies, even though it was booked ahead. Cosmetic surgery that is not medically necessary does not.
Four details catch employers out:
- No pro rating. Someone who starts partway through the year still gets the full 3 days for the rest of that year, full time or part time.
- Unused days do not carry over. The count resets each calendar year.
- The days do not have to be consecutive, and can be taken as part days.
- For a part day, pay the wages earned for the part worked, and count those hours for overtime. You may count a part day as a full day of leave used, but you do not have to.
The no sick note rule, in plain terms
Since October 28, 2024, an employer cannot require an employee to provide a certificate from a qualified health practitioner to take ESA sick leave. A qualified health practitioner means a person qualified to practise as a physician, registered nurse or psychologist in the place where the care is provided. In short: no doctor note can be required for these three days.
That is not the same as no proof at all. You may ask for evidence that is reasonable in the circumstances, judged on the length of the leave, any pattern of absences, what evidence is available, and its cost. A short written statement from the employee, an attestation, will usually do for a one or two day absence. A handbook clause requiring a medical note after two sick days is now out of step, and should be rewritten.
Two boundaries matter. First, if a contract provides a greater right or benefit than the ESA standard, its terms apply instead, including on notes, and that test looks at all of its sick leave terms together. Second, the ban covers proof of entitlement to ESA sick leave only. Medical documentation can still be needed to plan an accommodation or a return to work after a longer absence. Keep those requests separate, and say which purpose they serve.
There is also a counting trap. If an employee takes a day under a contract sick day plan, that day is also a day of ESA sick leave. A contract with only 1 paid sick day is not a greater right than the ESA, so taking that paid day leaves 2 unpaid job protected days, not 3 plus 1.
Notice, pay, and protection while someone is off
An employee should tell you before the leave starts, or as soon as possible after it starts. Notice does not have to be in writing: oral notice is enough, and late notice does not cancel the right to the leave. For a remote team, use one clear absence channel so a message to a manager reaches payroll the same day. Our vacation pay guide for Ontario employers covers the related records in the same file.
The three days are unpaid under the ESA. If your contract offers paid sick days, pay follows the contract. Either way, job protection is the point. An employer cannot threaten, fire, or penalise an employee for taking sick leave, or for planning to take it. Log the date, whether it was a full or part day, and what evidence you asked for. Do not log a diagnosis: you do not need it to prove a three day absence.
When three days is not enough: the 27 week leave
A serious illness does not stop at day three, and since June 19, 2025 Ontario has had a separate leave for it. Long term illness leave gives an eligible employee up to 27 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave in a 52 week period for a serious medical condition, after at least 13 consecutive weeks of employment. Ontario explains it in Long term illness leave: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act.
The proof rule flips here. A qualified health practitioner must issue a certificate stating the employee has a serious medical condition and setting out the period they will not be working. It does not have to name the condition, but it must say serious. The employee does not need it before the leave starts, but if no certificate is ever issued, there is no entitlement. Notice must be in writing, each time a new part begins.
Family responsibility leave (up to 3 unpaid days) and bereavement leave (up to 2 unpaid days) are separate entitlements with separate tests. One absence can only count against one statutory leave. Do not stack them by default in payroll.
What to fix in your handbook and payroll this month
- Remove any clause that requires a doctor note for the first three ESA sick days, and replace it with a reasonable evidence standard and a simple attestation option.
- Check contract sick day plans against the counting rule: paid days taken also use up ESA days, unless the contract as a whole gives a greater right.
- Add a part day rule: pay for time worked, count hours for overtime, and decide in advance whether part days count as full leave days.
- Set one absence notice channel that reaches both the manager and whoever runs payroll, with oral notice accepted.
- Add the 27 week long term illness leave, with its tests: 13 weeks of service, written notice, and a certificate that says serious.
- Train managers not to ask for a diagnosis. Ask when the employee expects to return.
Our remote staffing team sees these clauses most often in handbooks copied from older templates or another province. The fix is an afternoon of work.
Sick days, handled properly
Three unpaid days sounds minor until a note demand turns it into a complaint. OptiVal runs payroll at $29 per employee per month plus a $149 setup fee (CAD, HST extra), and bookkeeping starts at $199 per month. See our pricing page and services. Led by qualified professionals with more than 75 years of combined experience, PwC-trained, we keep leave and pay lined up. Book a free consultation to review how your team records sick leave.
