Ontario HR Compliance · CLC Part III (labour standards)
Personal, Bereavement, and Family-Violence Leave (CLC Part III)
Federally regulated employees have a suite of short job-protected leaves — personal, bereavement, pregnancy-loss, and family-violence leave — each with its own paid-day component.
Federally regulated employees have access to several short leaves beyond paid medical leave, each with its own length and its own paid portion. The paid days on each of these require the employee to have completed 3 consecutive months of continuous employment first:
- Personal leave — up to 5 days a year, the first 3 paid, for family responsibilities, health needs not covered by medical leave, education, urgent matters, or attending a citizenship ceremony. Personal illness or injury is covered separately, under paid medical leave.
- Bereavement leave — up to 5 days, the first 3 paid.
- Leave related to pregnancy loss — the first 3 days paid.
- Leave for victims of family violence — up to 10 days a year, the first 5 paid.
An employer may require each leave period taken to be at least one full day, and may ask for supporting documentation within 15 days of the employee’s return. These day-counts and paid portions differ from the equivalent leaves under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, so an employer moving between the two systems shouldn’t assume the entitlements line up.
This is general information, not legal advice; confirm current entitlements at the federal labour standards leaves page before relying on them.
Source: Government of Canada — Leaves under federal labour standards ·
Last reviewed .
Confidence: Verified
Related notes
- Paid Medical Leave (CLC Part III, s.239) — Every federally regulated employee accrues up to 10 days of paid medical leave a year regardless of employer size, a right added to the Canada Labour Code effective December 1, 2022.
- Maternity, Parental, and Caregiving Leaves (CLC Part III) — The Canada Labour Code job-protects maternity, parental, critical-illness, and compassionate care leave; income during the leave comes separately from federal EI benefits, not from the employer.
- Federal vs. Ontario Jurisdiction: The Employment-Law "Instead Of" Rule — A federally regulated employer follows the Canada Labour Code and related federal statutes in place of Ontario employment law, not on top of it — the federal regime replaces the ESA, OHSA, Human Rights Code, AODA and Pay Equity Act rather than adding to them.