Vacation and sick days are precious, but when life throws something unexpected at you, the instinct is to burn through them to handle it.
What you may not know is that Quebec’s Act respecting labour standards, enforced by the CNESST, already entitles workers to protected time off for a long list of situations, separate from whatever vacation bank you’re sitting on.
Some of these days come with pay, some don’t, and most require giving your employer a heads-up and maybe some documentation. But none of it should be coming out of your PTO.
Tying the knot
Getting married or entering a civil union entitles you to one paid day off. If it’s someone in your immediate family instead, a child, sibling or parent, you still get a day, just unpaid. Either way, you’re expected to give at least a week’s notice, and the day off needs to line up with the wedding itself, not sometime after.
Bringing a child into your family
Whether you’re welcoming a biological child or finalizing an adoption, you get five days off, with the first two paid, and you have to use them within 15 days of the birth or adoption. The exception is if you’re already on maternity or paternity leave when it happens, in which case this separate five-day allotment doesn’t apply.
Looking after a family member
Every worker in the province is entitled to up to 10 days a year for caregiving, whether that’s a sick child, an aging parent, or something tied to a kid’s schooling. You can split the days up however works, full days or halves, and if you’ve been with your employer at least three months, the first two days are paid.
Losing a pregnancy
If a pregnancy ends before the 20-week mark, you’re entitled to up to three weeks of unpaid leave, provided you have a doctor’s note. Past 20 weeks, that jumps to up to 20 weeks of unpaid parental leave. And if it’s your partner going through the loss rather than you, you still get five days off, two of them paid.
The death of someone close to you
Five days off, two of them paid, apply when you lose a spouse, child, sibling or parent. For a grandparent or another close relative, it drops to a single unpaid day.
When a loved one dies by suicide
If your spouse, child or parent dies by suicide, Quebec law entitles you to up to 104 weeks of unpaid leave, a provision built specifically around how long real recovery from something like that can actually take.
Jury duty or testifying in court
If you get summoned for jury duty or subpoenaed to testify, your employer legally has to let you go, full stop. They’re not obligated to pay you unless your collective agreement says otherwise, but the province does offer compensation for costs like meals and childcare while you’re out.
Public health emergencies and civil security situations
This is the newest of the bunch. It was introduced by Labour Minister Jean Boulet in April 2025 and received royal assent that October.
Buried in that bill is a new unpaid, job-protected leave for employees who need to miss work because of a public health order or civil security emergency, like a wildfire evacuation, a boil-water advisory shutting down your workplace, or another pandemic-style lockdown.
Employers aren’t allowed to demand a medical certificate for this one either, since the entire point is covering situations where getting documentation on short notice isn’t realistic.
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