I work part-time in BC: is paid sick leave a monthly accrual?

BC statutory sick leave is a calendar-year entitlement

For an employee covered by British Columbia’s Employment Standards Act, after 90 consecutive days of employment the annual entitlement for their own illness or injury is five paid days and three unpaid days. Full-time, part-time and casual employees can qualify; being part-time does not reduce five days to a fraction. The entitlement follows the calendar year, not the anniversary of joining. Qualifying partway through a year does not prorate those days. The employee can choose paid or unpaid leave where eligible; the employer should not substitute unpaid leave merely because the worker is part-time. A more generous contract can add rights, and serious illness may involve a separate protected-leave route.

Check service and the leave already used

Record your employment start date, the absence date and the paid and unpaid sick days already taken in that calendar year. Before 90 consecutive days, the section 49.1 entitlement has not yet been reached; a contractual sick-pay plan or another protected leave must be checked separately. After qualification, if you have used two paid sick days, three paid days remain from the five-day minimum. Do not subtract a day that was classified as another type of statutory leave without checking why. Tell the employer you need illness or injury leave as soon as practical and ask how it has recorded the absence.

Average day’s pay: use the preceding 30 calendar days

Each statutory paid sick day is paid at the average day’s pay. Add the wages paid or payable for work or wage-earning days within the 30 calendar days before the leave, excluding overtime pay; divide by the days worked or on which wages were earned in that period. Eligible paid vacation days, statutory holidays and earlier statutory paid sick days can belong in both the wage total and the day count. Do not divide by all 30 calendar days, omit qualifying paid days from the denominator, or count wages solely because the bank transfer happened in that window. The hours scheduled on the sick day do not replace this average-day calculation.

Complete part-time example: C$120 for a three-hour shift

Original hypothetical: in the preceding 30 calendar days, you have 12 wage-earning days and 60 non-overtime hours at C$24, giving C$1,440 eligible wages. You also earned C$120 overtime pay on those same workdays, which is excluded; there are no other paid days or wage items. Average day’s pay is C$1,440 ÷ 12 = C$120. You miss the entire scheduled three-hour shift because of illness and have an eligible paid sick day available. Statutory sick pay is C$120, not just 3 × C$24 = C$72. If C$72 was paid, the gross shortfall is C$48. This illustrates a whole missed shift, not a rule for treating every short absence as several days.

What proof can the employer request now?

Since 12 November 2025, BC generally prohibits requesting a health practitioner’s sick note for the first two short health-related leaves in a calendar year, each lasting no more than five consecutive days. This restriction is not a ban on all reasonable proof: an employee’s written or verbal account may be sufficient for a common short illness. A third short absence does not automatically make a medical note reasonable; the circumstances still matter. The regulation permits a necessary health record to assess fitness to return to work or a required work/workplace adjustment. Distinguish such a return-to-work assessment from routinely demanding a doctor’s note for a brief absence.

A leave and pay request you can adapt

“I need illness/injury leave for [date]. I have been continuously employed since [date] and request a statutory paid sick day, if eligible. My records show [paid days used] this calendar year. Please confirm the leave category and remaining balance, and provide the average-day calculation using the preceding 30 calendar days, including wages, excluded overtime and days counted. My calculation is [amount]. If further proof is requested, please identify what is reasonably required and why.” Keep the request, response, schedule, payslips and your 30-day calculation. Provide sufficient relevant information without attaching an entire medical history.

How to raise a BC employment standards complaint

If the leave or pay remains disputed, the Employment Standards Branch’s complaint process is free and accepts an online complaint. Prepare employer details, employment dates, the absence and response, leave balance and unpaid estimate. Save the confirmation email and case number; the branch may request records and attempt resolution or investigate. If employment has ended, an ESA complaint generally must be submitted within six months after the last day of employment. An internal pay request does not replace filing. If a collective agreement governs your employment, ask the union which grievance route applies; federally regulated work is outside this provincial route. More than eight days’ illness may require another leave or accommodation assessment, rather than assuming all protection is exhausted.

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