No. In Ontario, your employer can’t fire or punish you because you took job-protected sick leave.
Being sick does not make you immune from every termination. An employer can still end your employment for a legitimate reason unrelated to your illness or protected leave. But it can’t use your sick leave, disability or need for accommodation as an unlawful reason to discipline or dismiss you.
If you were fired shortly after calling in sick, don’t simply accept your employer’s explanation. The timing, what was said about your absences, whether you have a medical condition and the compensation you were offered can all affect your legal rights.
On This Page:
- 1. Can You Be Fired for Calling In Sick?
- 2. When Sick Leave Is Protected
- 3. Doctor’s Notes and Medical Proof
- 4. Frequent and Long-Term Illness
- 5. Can Calling In Sick Be Cause for Termination?
- 6. What to Do If You’re Fired
- 7. Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Be Fired for Calling In Sick in Ontario?
No. Your employer can’t fire, discipline or penalize you because you properly took sick leave protected by Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA).
Most Ontario employees who have worked for their employer for at least two consecutive weeks are entitled to up to three unpaid, job-protected sick days per calendar year for their own:
- Illness
- Injury
- Medical emergency
These are minimum rights. Your employment contract or workplace policy can provide additional sick days or paid sick leave.
For the complete rules, see our guide to sick days in Ontario.
Can your employer fire you while you are sick for another reason?
Yes, if the real reason is genuinely unrelated to your illness, sick leave or disability.
For example, an employee who is off sick is not automatically protected from a genuine company-wide restructuring that would have eliminated their position anyway.
If an employer terminates you without cause for an unrelated reason, it must still provide the notice or compensation you are legally owed. Learn more about termination without cause in Ontario.
The problem is different when your illness, medical absence or request for accommodation influenced the decision to fire you.
When Is Sick Leave Protected in Ontario?
Sick leave is protected when you meet the requirements of the ESA or another legal protection applies to your medical absence.
For the basic three-day ESA entitlement, you become eligible after working for your employer for at least two consecutive weeks.
Are Ontario sick days paid?
No. The ESA does not require employers to pay you for the three statutory sick days.
Your employer can provide paid sick days through your employment contract, collective agreement or workplace policy. If your workplace provides a greater benefit, the ESA minimum does not reduce that benefit.
Do you have to follow your employer’s call-in procedure?
Yes. Being entitled to sick leave does not mean you should simply fail to attend work without notifying your employer.
Tell your employer that you need sick leave as soon as reasonably possible and follow normal absence-reporting procedures unless your illness or emergency prevents you from doing so.
There is an important difference between taking legitimate sick leave and failing to report an absence without explanation.
Can your employer cut your hours because you called in sick?
Your employer can’t cut your hours or shifts as punishment for taking protected sick leave.
A sudden reduction in hours immediately after you exercise a protected workplace right can be evidence of reprisal. The same concern applies to threats, demotions or discipline tied to the leave.
Learn more about workplace retaliation in Ontario.
Can Your Employer Demand a Doctor’s Note When You Call In Sick?
For the three ESA sick days, your employer can ask for evidence that is reasonable in the circumstances, but it can’t require a certificate from a qualified health practitioner as proof of your entitlement to that leave.
This means an employer cannot make getting a doctor’s note a condition of using your basic ESA sick leave.
Different rules apply when you need a longer medical leave or workplace accommodation. In those situations, your employer can require appropriate medical information to understand matters such as:
- Whether you are medically able to work
- Your workplace restrictions or limitations
- How long those restrictions are expected to last
- Whether a modified or gradual return to work is appropriate
Your employer does not automatically need your diagnosis or complete medical history simply because you are sick.
See our guide to sick notes in Ontario for the detailed rules.
What If You Call In Sick Frequently or Need a Longer Medical Leave?
There is no simple number of sick days after which an Ontario employer automatically gains the right to fire you.
The ESA’s three-day sick leave entitlement is only one part of the law. If your absences are connected to a disability or ongoing medical condition, Ontario human rights law can require your employer to accommodate you to the point of undue hardship.
Accommodation can include:
- Additional medical leave
- Modified duties
- Reduced or flexible hours
- Changes to schedules
- A gradual return to work
An employer cannot simply apply an inflexible attendance rule to disability-related absences without considering its accommodation obligations.
There is also no fixed Human Rights Code rule saying that an employee loses disability protection after a particular number of days away from work. The legal question is whether you can eventually perform the essential duties of your job with reasonable accommodation and whether continued accommodation would cause undue hardship.
Learn more about your employer’s duty to accommodate in Ontario.
What if you need months rather than days away from work?
Ontario now provides qualifying employees with up to 27 weeks of unpaid, job-protected long-term illness leave in a 52-week period.
The leave is available to qualifying employees who have worked for their employer for at least 13 consecutive weeks and have a serious medical condition that prevents them from performing their job duties. Medical certification is required for this longer leave.
See our guide to long-term illness leave in Ontario if your condition will keep you away from work for an extended period.
Can Calling In Sick Be Cause for Termination?
Being genuinely sick and properly reporting your absence is not just cause for termination.
An employer can address actual misconduct surrounding an absence. For example, deliberately lying about being sick, falsifying medical information or repeatedly failing to notify your employer about absences without a valid reason can create disciplinary issues.
That is very different from firing someone simply because they became ill or needed legitimate medical leave.
Just cause is a serious legal allegation. An employer does not establish cause merely by writing “termination for cause” in a letter.
If your employer alleges misconduct because of your absence, see our guide to termination for cause in Ontario.
What Should You Do If You’re Fired After Calling In Sick?
Preserve the evidence and do not sign anything until you know why the termination happened and what compensation you are owed.
A termination that follows a sick day is not automatically illegal. But these facts deserve closer attention:
- Your manager complained about you taking sick days
- You were threatened with termination if you missed work again
- Your hours or shifts were cut after medical absences
- Discipline began only after you disclosed a medical condition
- You requested accommodation shortly before being fired
- You were dismissed while on job-protected medical leave
- Your employer suddenly describes legitimate medical absences as an “attendance problem”
What legal rights can be involved?
A firing connected to illness can involve more than one legal right.
Depending on what happened, the termination can raise:
- ESA reprisal issues if you were punished for exercising a protected sick-leave right
- Human rights issues if disability was a factor in the termination or your employer failed to accommodate you
- Wrongful dismissal issues if your employer failed to provide the notice or compensation you were owed
If disability played a role, read our guide to workplace discrimination in Ontario.
Are you still owed severance if you were fired while sick?
Yes, if your employer terminates you without cause, being sick does not take away your right to proper termination compensation.
For many non-unionized employees, full severance is substantially greater than the minimum required by the ESA. Depending on factors such as your age, position, length of service and the availability of similar employment, severance can reach 24 months’ pay.
Read our guide to severance pay in Ontario. If the amount offered is inadequate, you can also have a wrongful dismissal claim.
What should you save?
Keep copies of:
- Your termination letter and severance offer
- Emails and text messages about your sick days
- Attendance warnings or discipline
- Your work schedules before and after the absence
- Relevant workplace sick-leave policies
- Medical documentation you provided to your employer
- Your employment contract and compensation records
The Ontario employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP help non-unionized employees determine whether a dismissal involved sick-leave reprisal, disability discrimination or inadequate severance, and what should happen next.
Fired for Calling In Sick Ontario: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I be fired for calling in sick during probation?
Your probationary status does not erase statutory sick-leave or human rights protections. Once you have worked for your employer for at least two consecutive weeks, you qualify for the ESA’s three job-protected sick days. An employer also cannot discriminate against you because of a disability simply because you are on probation.
Can my employer fire me after I use all three ESA sick days?
Using three sick days does not automatically give your employer the right to fire you on the next absence. Additional rights can arise from your employment contract, workplace policy, long-term illness leave or the duty to accommodate a disability.
Can my employer fire me while I am on medical leave?
Your employer can’t fire you because you are exercising a protected medical leave or because of a disability. You are not immune from a legitimate termination that is genuinely unrelated to your leave, but the employer must still meet its termination obligations.
Can my boss discipline me because I call in sick often?
Your employer can manage legitimate attendance and misconduct issues, but it cannot simply punish disability-related absences without addressing its accommodation obligations. If your absences are medical, tell your employer enough to identify that accommodation could be required and obtain appropriate medical support.
What if my employer says I am unreliable because of my illness?
A label such as “unreliable” does not remove your legal protections. If the attendance problem is connected to a disability or protected leave, the employer must deal with those legal obligations rather than simply relabel the medical absence as a performance problem.
If you were fired after calling in sick, focus on the real reason for the termination—not just the words in the termination letter. A dismissal connected to protected sick leave or disability can create additional legal rights, and an inadequate severance offer can leave substantial compensation unclaimed.
Don’t sign away your rights before you know what happened and what you are owed.