Amount of bereavement leave in Alberta depends on who you work for

When a loved one passes away, we expect we’ll get time off work, but Alberta is the only province in Canada where your employer doesn’t have to give it to you.

Nunavut is the only other place where there are no clear rules, and how much leave is given when a loved one dies, whether paid or unpaid, is left up to the employer.

A listener wrote to 660 NEWS, to say he was surprised to hear of a lack of legislation.

He took three days off work to grieve the death of his mother, assuming there would be no worries about losing money.

He was wrong.

“We’re concerned that Alberta is sort of an outlier in this particular situation,” Minister of Labour Lori Sigurdson said, explaining the NDP government is planning to do a major review of all employment standards this fall.

“Stakeholders, employees, employers, they’ll all be able to present to us their perspectives on this,” she said. “So we really need to take those into consideration.”

Sigurdson said, while it seems to be a fair thing to legislate, they need to consider the impact on a company.

“Perhaps it’s not as controversial as minimum wage. Minimum wage is a little bit different. I think there’s a more varied opinion on it,” she said.

However, Sigurdson warned, like any government action there’s a process and it will take time.

She added, so far, she hasn’t seen any concerns about the issue come across her desk.