It just seems to me that some of them are pretty serious. Obviously, leave for victims of family violence is pretty serious, but nobody can really plan for the death of their child.
I understand that if you start a new job, and you're only in it about two months, you should have some type of.... The terminology used was “attachment to the employer”, and then after three months, you qualify for a bunch of other benefits.
The only suggestion I would make is that what this amendment is seeking to address is something totally unplanned. The death of your child is not something you plan for, typically, I would hope. It's a life event during which you may find yourself in difficult circumstances that you didn't plan for. Whether or not you've recently changed your work and find yourself in what could almost be called precarious employment, you'll want leave for at least a few days.
You could always take unpaid leave, but a child dying is not a cheap affair. Having gone through this, again, personally, it's not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Having to lose just a few days of pay would be quite a big deal. I just think that removing the three-month requirement for employment in order to be eligible for those five days of paid bereavement leave, for such a huge life-changing event that will probably follow the employee for the term of their employment, is very little to ask.
This is not weeks. This is five days. It's pretty small. It's pretty simple, I would think, at least as a change. CPC-11 is the same concept. When I look at these other types of leave and other leaves available in the labour code, there are some for very important life events and some that I would say are for lesser but still very important events.
A child's death should not be something you use vacation days for. A child's death is not something you should use some sort of personal leave for. There should be dedicated leave for it. If you find yourself with a new employer, you're trying to prove yourself to them. I understand that. Again, it's not something you planned for. It's not something you can adjust your schedule around when you're seeking new employment to better yourself and to get a better job. I just think the compassionate thing to do in this case, for bereavement leave, is to do away with the three-month requirement and give them the five paid days.
