Can my employer fire me because i was on sick leave?
Short answer
In Quebec, an employer is prohibited from dismissing, suspending, transferring or penalizing an employee because they exercised a right provided for by the Act respecting labour standards, which includes absences for illness or family obligations. The remedy is a complaint for a prohibited practice with the CNESST (Quebec's labour standards, health and safety board), within 45 days of the measure (ss. 122 and 123).
In detail
The Act lists several prohibited grounds: exercising a right provided for by the Act, a pregnancy, having given information to the CNESST or testified in a proceeding, a seizure of wages, being a caregiver, and reaching the age of retirement, among others.
The presumption is the heart of this remedy. If the employee shows that they exercised a right and that a penalty followed, they are presumed to have been penalized on that ground. The employer must then establish another good and sufficient cause, one that is serious and genuine, and not a pretext.
If the complaint is allowed, the Tribunal administratif du travail (TAT, Quebec's labour tribunal) may order reinstatement, cancellation of the penalty, and payment of the equivalent of the wages and benefits that were lost. Nothing requires a minimum length of service.
What to document
The exact dates of your absences and of the notices you gave the employer, the medical certificates, the date of the penalty, the reasons given, and any change in tone, schedule or treatment that occurred after the absence. It is the dates placed end to end that reveal a connection.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
- Act respecting labour standards (CQLR, c. N-1.1) — Légis Québec
- CNESST — Recourses and grounds for complaints under the labour standards (PDF)
- Tribunal administratif du travail — Reprisals for exercising a right or a civic responsibility provided for in certain Acts
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.