On December 12, 2025, the Canada Labour Code (“CLC”) was amended to create new job-protected leaves for employees in federally regulated industries across sectors such as banking, telecommunications, and interprovincial/international trucking. These amendments were made via the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, and include new and/or expanded leaves for pregnancy loss, bereavement, and death of a child.
New Leave Related to Pregnancy Loss
Effective December 12, 2025, employees of federally regulated businesses are eligible for a Leave Related to Pregnancy Loss if: (i) their pregnancy does not result in a live birth; (ii) the pregnancy of their spouse or common law partner does not result in a live birth; or (iii) they intended to be the legal part of a child that would have been born if another person’s pregnancy had resulted in a live birth.
Where a pregnancy resulted in a still birth, the employee is entitled to up to eight (8) weeks of leave, whereas they are entitled to only up to three (3) days of leave in all other cases. These maximum durations apply to any single pregnancy, even if the pregnancy involved twins or multiples.
Notably, employees are permitted to take the leave at any time between when the pregnancy ends and twenty-six (26) weeks after that day. Employees are also permitted to take this leave in two or more periods, but each period cannot be for less than one day.
Finally, employees who have completed at least three months of continuous employment prior to taking the leave are entitled to be paid for the first three days of the leave at their regular rate of wages for their normal hours of work.
Expanded Bereavement Leave
The maximum duration for job-protected Bereavement Leave under the CLC has been extended for cases where the child of an employee or their spouse or common law partner has died. In particular, such employees are now entitled to up to eight (8) weeks of Bereavement Leave (with up to the first three days being paid leave).
In contrast, employees are entitled to only up to 10 days of Bereavement Leave for the death of an immediate family member who is not their child or the child of their spouse/common law partner, which has not been changed by the amendments.
Additionally, the amendments have introduced the following requirements for all bereavement leaves under the CLC:
- Employees on Bereavement Leave are entitled to be informed in writing of every employment, promotion, or training opportunity that arises while they are on leave, if they request this in writing;
- Employees are entitled to be reinstated to the same position following a Bereavement Leave or, if there is a “valid reason” why they cannot be reinstated to the same position, they must be reinstated to a comparable position with the same wages/benefits and at the same location;
- Where there is a change to the wages and benefits of the group of employees to which an employee belongs as part of a reorganization while they were on Bereavement Leave, then when they are entitled to the wages/benefits they would have been received if they had not been on leave when the reorganization occurred;
- The pension, health, and disability benefits of an employee who is taking a Bereavement Leave must continue to accumulate for the entire duration of their leave (subject to the employee paying any premiums they are required in order to receive such benefits);
- An employee’s employment is deemed continuous while they are taking a Bereavement Leave;
- Employers are prohibited from dismissing, suspending, laying off, demoting, or disciplining an employee because they have applied for, intended to take, or taken a Bereavement leave and;
Other Changes
The amendments which came into effect on December 12, 2026 also created some new protections for employees as well as new procedural requirements related to leaves under the CLC.
In terms of procedural requirements, where an employee takes a Bereavement, Compassionate Care, Critical Injury, Death or Disappearance, Pregnancy Loss or Court or Jury Duty leave for four or more weeks must provide their employer with at least four weeks of notice to any change to the length of the leave (unless there is a “valid reason” why this cannot be done). Notably, if an employee wishes to shorten such a leave and fails to provide their employer with at least four weeks notice, then the employer is not required to return them to work for up to four weeks from the date from the date on which the employee informed the employer of the new end date of the leave.
If you require assistance interpreting the new changes to legislation or how they may affect your workplace, please do not hesitate to contact us for expert legal advice and guidance.
