Section 206.5 — Canada Labour Code: Definitions

The following definitions apply in this section. child means a person who is under 25 years of age. ( enfant ) crime means an offence under the Criminal Code , other than one that is excluded by the regulations. ( crime ) parent , with respect to a child, means a person who, in law, is a parent of the child; a person, other than a person referred to in paragraph (a), who, in law has custody of the child or, in Quebec, parental authority over the child, is the guardian of the child or, in Quebec, the tutor or curator to the person of the child, or has decision-making responsibility , as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Divorce Act , in respect of the child; a person with whom the child is placed for the purposes of adoption under the laws governing adoption in the province in which the person resides; or a person prescribed to be a parent by regulations made under paragraph 209.4(f). ( parent ) Every employee is entitled to and shall be granted a leave of absence from employment of up to 156 weeks if the employee is the parent of a child who has died and it is probable, considering the circumstances, that the child died as a result of a crime. Every employee is entitled to and shall be granted a leave of absence from employment of up to 156 weeks if the employee is the parent of a child who has disappeared and it is probable, considering the circumstances, that the child disappeared as a result of a crime. An employee is not entitled to a leave of absence if they are charged with the crime. The period during which the employee may take a leave of absence begins on the day on which the death or disappearance, as the case may be, occurs; and ends 156 weeks after the day on which the death or disappearance, as the case may be, occurs. Despite paragraph (5)(b), in the case of a child who disappears and who is subsequently found, the period referred to in subsection (5) ends on the 14th day after the day on which the child is found, if the child is found during the 156-week period, but no later than the end of the 156-week period; or 156 weeks after the day on which the disappearance occurs if subsection (2) applies to the child. For greater certainty, a leave under this section ends on the day on which the circumstances are such that it is no longer probable that the death or disappearance was the result of a crime. The aggregate amount of leave that may be taken by employees under this section in respect of the same death or disappearance of a child —

or the same children who die or disappear as a result of the same event — must not exceed 156 weeks.