Compassionate leave for parents with critically-ill kids seriously flawed, says expert

Amanda Jensen, a single mother of four in Alberta, was fired from her job at a small organization while away caring for a six-year-old son being treated for leukemia.

Legally, Jensen's termination may not be that unusual. The federal government allows employees to take time away from work to care for a critically-ill child — which is an unpaid, job-protected leave of absence — but the parameters differ province to province.  

Debbie Dean relates to Jensen's experience. At first, Dean's employer was very accommodating when her three-year-old son Cameron was diagnosed with leukemia.

"They let me be with him in the hospital for the first month, no questions asked and were very supportive," Dean tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.

She explains her employer gave her the option of either taking a maternity-type leave or work part-time. She decided to work.

"It's a long process for boys with leukemia — it's three-and-a-half years of treatment."

When her employer said she had to come back full-time, Dean couldn't accept the challenges it caused around caring for her son.

Dean says that financially with her son suffering two relapses, "it will take years to dig out of where we are."

"We seem to just start emerging out of debt and, you know, something else comes up," she tells Tremonti, suggesting they may sell the house to pay off the debt.

Federally, parents of seriously-ill children can take 35 weeks off work but Kate Bezanson, Brock University's sociology chair, says there are caveats to this leave.

"These kinds of policies are subject to whatever regulations provinces have put into effect and many provinces have not updated their employment standards legislation to allow for job-protected leaves at the provincial level," Bezanson tells Tremonti.

"So you might be able to access the benefit itself, but you might not be able to get job-protected leave at the provincial level."

And when it comes to small businesses it can be very hard to accommodate a long-term absence, says senior vice-president of Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Corinne Pohlmann.

However, she adds, for the most part, many small business try to accommodate their employees because "they're like family."

"But they also have to balance that with making sure the business stays afloat and making sure that all the employees who also may have other issues are also being recognized in part," explains Pohlmann.

Due to Canada's lack of coherent family policy, Bezanson says, significant implications fall on vulnerable populations who are trying to access leave.

"I would say that this variation in policies between provinces and territories can have the effect that where you live can determine what you get,"  Bezanson says, adding that for women especially, who are often caregivers working part-time, casual or non-standard work, the implications could lead to not qualifying for EI leave such as compassionate care.

"Unless you are in a federally-regulated workplace, you're not governed by the Canada labour code."

Listen to the full segment at the top of this web post.

This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien and Samira Mohyeddin.