Leaves Of Absence And The ESA Do Not Let The Law Catch You Unknowingly

Posted by Anna Johnson on April 25th, 2023

Even though leaves of absence are typical in dental practices, many dentists are unaware of the legal traps employers can fall into in this area of employment law. This blog will show some standard “leave” situations and how a dental practitioner can avoid such problems. We will review the Employment Standards Act's protections for specific leaves of absence. To learn more about leaves of absence, contact a dental attorney.

Do not let the law catch you unknowingly: Leaves of absence and the ESA.

A leave of absence defines a temporary pause of work begun by an employee. There are unpaid leaves, paid leaves, and leaves protecting an employee’s job. We will focus on job-protected leaves and those governed under the ESA. Job protection defines the employee on leave as allowed to return to their job and cannot be dismissed or punished for planning or taking one of these leaves of absence. ESA also provides unpaid and job-protected leaves for situations like:

• Sick leave
• Emergency leave
• Bereavement leave
• Family responsibility leave

Each leave has specific criteria for those qualities, the amount of notice required before leaving, the documentation required, and the lengths allowable. You should assess every situation as its own. There are some commonalities every dentist should know about, which are mentioned below.

Continuous employment

Apart from the business rule, many statutory protections benefit the employees on leave. For example, one area that is misunderstood is the leaves of absence, treating them as “active employment” for calculating the vacation, employment length, termination notice, and benefit entitlements.

Reinstatement rule

Dentists should educate themselves about the overarching reinstatement rule. Some good-faith decisions will end up impacting employees on leave.

The reinstatement rule does not make an unqualified, absolute right to a job for everyone who takes leave.

The rule does not state an employer to reinstate someone if the employee has been terminated despite the leave.

Continuation of benefits

Any team member participating in the benefits plan can continue participating during their leave. It means that you should maintain the same level of contributions to benefits plans that you began maintaining the same level of contributions to keep low coverage in places.

Deferring vacation

For example, a team member had accumulated unused vacation days, which can otherwise conflict or overlap with their leave. For example, suppose your hygienist's sick days and vacation time run concurrently. In that case, they can use their sick days during the beginning days of their absence and postpone their remaining vacation until they return.