Bill 175 explained in plain English
Jonathan's Law (Employee Leave of Absence When Child Dies), 2016
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Jonathan's Law, 2016, grants eligible employees in Ontario an unpaid leave of absence of up to 52 weeks following the death of a child.
This bill, also known as Jonathan's Law, amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to allow employees who have worked for their employer for at least six consecutive months to take an unpaid leave of absence of up to 52 weeks if their child dies. The leave must be taken within a 52-week period starting from the week of the child's death. The bill specifies that 'child' includes a step-child or foster child under 18 years of age. An employee cannot take this leave if they are charged with a crime related to the child's death. The total leave for one or more employees related to the same death cannot exceed 52 weeks. Employees must provide written notice and a plan for their leave to their employer, and may need to provide evidence of their entitlement. This leave is in addition to other types of leave an employee may be entitled to.
- Amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to create a new type of leave called "child death leave".
- Entitles employees who have been employed for at least six consecutive months to an unpaid leave of absence of up to 52 weeks if their child dies.
- Defines 'child' for the purpose of this leave as a child, step-child, or foster child under 18 years of age.
- Specifies that the leave can only be taken in a single period and must be within the 52-week period following the child's death.
- States that the total amount of leave available for one or more employees due to the same death event is 52 weeks.
- Requires employees to provide written notice and a plan to their employer for the leave, with provisions for changes to the plan.
- Allows employers to request reasonable evidence of the employee's entitlement to the leave.
- Clarifies that this leave is in addition to other leaves an employee may be entitled to under the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
- Establishes that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Employees in Ontario who have been employed by their employer for at least six consecutive months.
- Employers in Ontario.
- Parents or guardians whose child (including step-child or foster child under 18) has died.
- Right for eligible employees to take an unpaid leave of absence up to 52 weeks if their child dies.
- Obligation for employees to provide written notice and a leave plan to their employer.
- Employer's right to request reasonable evidence of entitlement to the leave.
- Limitation that employees cannot take this leave if charged with a crime related to the child's death.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The leave of absence is without pay.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes 'reasonable evidence' for an employer to request.
- The bill does not define 'circumstance other than one in which subsection 49.5 (2) applies' in relation to entitlement to leave.
- The bill does not specify how the total 52-week leave limit is allocated or managed among multiple employees if more than one is entitled to leave due to the same death event.
- The bill does not specify penalties for employers who do not comply with the new leave provisions.
This bill amends the Employment Standards Act, 2000 by adding a new section that creates a child death leave of absence for eligible employees.
Source: Section 1 of Bill 175
This bill adds Section 49.4.1 to the Employment Standards Act, 2000, which outlines the provisions for child death leave.
Source: Section 1 of Bill 175
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
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This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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