No. In British Columbia, your employer can’t fire, discipline or punish you because you properly take sick leave that is protected by law.
After 90 consecutive days of employment, most employees covered by BC’s Employment Standards Act are entitled to five paid and three unpaid job-protected illness or injury days each calendar year. A serious illness or injury can also qualify you for up to 27 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, and a physical or mental disability can trigger additional human rights protections.
Being sick does not make you immune from every legitimate termination. An employer can still end your employment for a genuine reason unrelated to your sick leave or disability. But if you were fired shortly after calling in sick, don’t accept a cause allegation or sign a severance release before determining why you were really let go and what compensation you’re owed.
On This Page:
- 1. Can You Be Fired for Calling in Sick?
- 2. Sick Leave Rights in BC
- 3. Doctor’s Notes and Medical Proof
- 4. Frequent or Long-Term Illness
- 5. Calling in Sick and Termination for Cause
- 6. What to Do If You’re Fired
Can You Be Fired for Calling in Sick in BC?
No. Your employer can’t fire or penalize you because you took sick or medical leave that is protected under BC law.
That protection includes more than simply keeping your job during the day you are away. An employer can’t use protected leave as the reason to reduce your hours, demote you, discipline you or otherwise change a condition of your employment without your written consent.
You should still tell your employer that you can’t work as soon as reasonably possible and follow the normal call-in procedure where you are able to do so. Keep the text message, email, call record or other confirmation showing when you reported your absence.
Can your employer fire you while you are sick for another reason?
Yes, if the real reason for the termination is genuinely unrelated to your illness, protected leave or disability.
For example, being home sick does not automatically protect an employee from a genuine company-wide restructuring that would have eliminated their position anyway.
If your employer ends your employment without cause for an unrelated reason, it must still provide the notice or compensation you are legally owed. If you receive too little compensation, you can have a wrongful dismissal claim in BC.
The situation is more serious when your illness, medical absence or request for accommodation influenced the decision to fire you.
Sick Leave Rights in BC
After 90 consecutive days with an employer, an employee in BC is entitled to five paid and three unpaid illness or injury days each calendar year.
These are job-protected minimum rights under BC employment standards. Your employment contract or workplace policy can provide more generous sick-leave benefits.
What if you need weeks or months off because of illness?
A serious personal illness or injury can qualify you for up to 27 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 52-week period.
This longer leave applies when a serious personal illness or injury makes you unable to work for at least one week. Unlike the basic paid and unpaid sick-day entitlement, there is no 90-day service requirement for this serious illness or injury leave.
You need a certificate from a health practitioner confirming that you are unable to work for medical reasons, when that inability began or is expected to begin, and when you are expected to be able to return. The leave is taken in periods of one or more weeks.
Your employer can’t simply treat the end of your five paid sick days as permission to fire you if another job-protected medical leave or human rights protection applies.
Doctor’s Notes and Medical Proof
Your employer can’t automatically demand a doctor’s note every time you call in sick in BC.
For your first two short health-related absences of five consecutive days or less in a calendar year, an employer generally can’t require a note produced by a health practitioner simply to prove the absence.
For later short absences, the employer can request proof that is reasonably sufficient in the circumstances. That does not mean a doctor’s note is automatically reasonable for every common, short-term illness.
Different rules apply to the 27-week serious personal illness or injury leave. Medical certification is required for that longer leave.
Can your employer ask for medical information for accommodation?
Yes. If you need workplace accommodation, your employer can ask for enough medical information to understand your restrictions, limitations and accommodation needs.
That can include information about whether you can work, what duties you can perform, how long restrictions are expected to last and whether you need modified duties or a gradual return to work.
Your employer does not automatically need your complete medical file simply because you called in sick.
Frequent or Long-Term Illness and Disability
There is no automatic number of sick days after which an employer in BC gains the right to fire you.
If your illness amounts to a physical or mental disability, the BC Human Rights Code can require your employer to accommodate you to the point of undue hardship.
Depending on your medical restrictions and the workplace, accommodation can include:
- Additional medical leave
- Modified duties
- Reduced or flexible hours
- Changes to your schedule
- A gradual return to work
- Other reasonable changes that allow you to remain employed
An employer can’t simply label disability-related absences an “attendance problem” and ignore its accommodation obligations.
Learn more about your employer’s duty to accommodate in BC.
Can you be fired while you are still medically unable to work?
Your employer can’t fire you because you are exercising a protected leave right or because you have a disability.
However, disability accommodation is not unlimited. Whether employment can eventually end after a very long medical absence is highly fact-dependent and can involve the medical prognosis, your ability to return, available accommodation and whether further accommodation would create undue hardship.
Don’t resign simply because your employer says it can no longer hold your job. Get advice before taking a step that could affect your severance or human rights claim.
Calling in Sick and Termination for Cause
Being genuinely sick and properly reporting your absence is not, by itself, just cause for termination.
Actual misconduct surrounding an absence is different. An employer can have legitimate disciplinary concerns if an employee:
- Deliberately lies about being sick
- Provides false or altered medical documents
- Repeatedly fails to report absences without a valid reason
- Misuses a workplace sick-leave program
- Refuses reasonable medical information required for a longer leave or accommodation process
Even when an employer has a legitimate attendance or discipline concern, that does not automatically establish just cause. Cause is a serious legal finding that can eliminate an employee’s right to termination compensation.
If your employer claims that calling in sick amounted to misconduct, read our guide to termination with cause in BC.
Can you be fired for calling in sick during probation?
Probation does not erase your protected-leave or human rights protections.
The five paid and three unpaid basic illness or injury days become available after 90 consecutive days of employment. However, the serious personal illness or injury leave does not have the same 90-day service requirement, and disability discrimination protections are not eliminated simply because an employee is new or on probation.
If you are dismissed during a probation period in BC, your separate entitlement to termination compensation depends on your employment contract and the circumstances of the termination.
What to Do If You’re Fired After Calling in Sick
Keep the evidence, don’t sign a release and have the reason for your termination and your severance reviewed.
Save copies of:
- Your termination letter and severance offer
- Texts, emails or records showing when you called in sick
- Attendance warnings or disciplinary letters
- Comments from your employer about your sick days or medical condition
- Medical information you provided to your employer
- Your workplace sick-leave and attendance policies
- Your employment contract
Pay particular attention if your manager complained about your sick days, threatened your job over another medical absence, reduced your hours after you called in sick or terminated you shortly after you requested accommodation.
Can you get compensation if you were fired for being sick?
Yes. A termination connected to protected sick leave or disability can involve several different forms of compensation or legal remedies.
Depending on what happened, your rights can include employment standards remedies, human rights compensation and wrongful dismissal compensation.
If you were terminated without cause, don’t assume BC’s employment standards minimum is your full entitlement. Many non-unionized employees have substantially greater common-law rights. Depending on factors such as your age, position, length of service and the availability of similar employment, severance pay in BC can reach as much as 24 months’ pay.
How long do you have to take legal action?
Different claims have different deadlines, so act promptly after a termination.
For example, a BC Employment Standards complaint relating to a terminated employee generally has a six-month deadline after the last day of employment. Human rights complaints generally have a one-year time limit. Civil employment claims are subject to separate limitation rules.
Don’t use an employer’s short severance deadline as your legal deadline. Being told you have two, three or five days to sign does not erase your legal rights. Once you sign a release, however, it is nearly impossible to seek additional compensation.
Fired for Calling in Sick BC: Frequently Asked Questions
Can you be fired for taking one sick day in BC?
Your employer can’t legally fire you because you took a sick day that was protected by law. After 90 consecutive days of employment, BC’s basic illness or injury leave includes five paid and three unpaid days each calendar year. Other protections can also apply before or beyond those eight days.
Can your employer fire you after you use all eight sick days?
No automatic rule allows your employer to fire you simply because you used all eight basic sick days. A longer illness can qualify for serious personal illness or injury leave, and a disability can trigger the duty to accommodate.
Do you have to find someone to cover your shift when you call in sick?
You should follow reasonable workplace procedures for reporting your absence, but taking legally protected sick leave does not disappear simply because another employee has not volunteered to cover your shift. If you are legitimately unable to work and entitled to the leave, staffing the workplace remains the employer’s responsibility.
Can your boss call you unreliable because you are sick?
Calling an employee “unreliable” does not remove protected-leave or disability rights. If attendance problems are connected to a disability, the employer must address its accommodation obligations rather than simply relabel medical absences as poor performance.
Can your employer reduce your shifts after you call in sick?
Your employer can’t reduce your shifts as punishment for taking protected sick leave. A sudden reduction in hours or another negative change immediately after protected leave can be important evidence when determining why the employer acted.
Get Help If You Were Fired After Calling in Sick
Calling in sick does not mean giving up your job or your right to compensation.
Samfiru Tumarkin LLP helps non-unionized employees determine whether a termination involved protected sick leave, disability discrimination, a failure to accommodate, an improper cause allegation or inadequate severance.
If you were fired after a medical absence, our BC employment lawyers can determine what happened and what compensation you are legally entitled to receive. Employees in the Lower Mainland can also speak with a wrongful dismissal lawyer in Vancouver.