A new provincial law has been created to strengthen job protection for family member caregivers. The Family Caregivers Bill, which was passed on April 29, 2014, increases existing family medical leave by introducing three new types of leave:
- Family caregiver leave, which provides up to 8 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for workers who provide care or support to a family members with a senior medical condition
- Critically-ill child care Leave, which provides up to 37 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for family caregivers of critically ill children
- Crime-related child death or disappearance leave, which provides workers with up to 52 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for parents of a missing child and up to 103 unpaid, job-protected leave for parents of a child who has died due to crime.
For more information, please read the official press release from the Government of Ontario.