A win for all workers and health care providers

Last week, the provincial government made an important announcement that is good news for all workers and relief for health care providers.

Effective immediately, new employment standards regulations will limit when your employer can ask for a doctor's note for short-term illness. Employers in B.C. cannot require a sick note from a worker for the first two health-related, short-term absences of five consecutive days or fewer in the calendar year.

Your union has been calling for this policy change for years and with this announcement, all workers will now benefit. We have long supported health care providers in their efforts to eliminate the burden that unnecessary sick notes cause. The Canadian Medical Association estimates that B.C. doctors wrote about 1.6 million sick notes in 2024 alone!

Workers who are sick with common ailments such as colds and flus can now stay home and focus on getting better, rather than going out into the community and exposing others to communicable viruses.

When you, or your child is sick, the last thing you should have to worry about is getting to your doctor or nurse practitioner to get a sick note.

Several other provinces have already taken steps to limit sick note requirements, and we welcome this change for British Columbians.
 
To learn more about the legislative changes, see the April 15, 2025, news release from the provincial government.

Click here to view the Employment Standards Branch website and related updates.

UWU/MoveUP