8.09. An employee may be absent from work for a period of not more than 26 weeks over a period of 12 months owing to sickness, an organ or tissue donation for transplant, an accident, domestic violence or sexual violence of which the employee has been a victim.
An employee may not, however, be absent from work for a period of not more than 104 weeks if the employee suffers a serious bodily injury during or resulting directly from a criminal offence that renders the employee unable to hold the employee’s regular position. In that case, the period of absence does not begin before the date on which the criminal offence was committed, or before the expiry of the period provided for in the first paragraph, where applicable, and does not end later than 104 weeks after the commission of the criminal offence.
The first 2 days taken annually are remunerated according to the calculation formula described in section 6.03.1, with any adjustments required in the case of division. The employee becomes entitled to such remuneration on being credited with 3 months of uninterrupted service, even if the employee was absent previously. However, the employer is not required to remunerate more than 2 days of absence in the same year, if the employee is absent from work for a reason referred to in this section or in section 8.06.
However, this section does not apply in the case of an employment injury within the meaning of the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (chapter A-3.001).
The employee must advise the employer of his or her absence as soon as possible, giving the reasons for it.
O.C. 756-2011, s. 17; 67-2020O.C. 67-2020, s. 111.