No Nova Scotian Should Have To Work Sick

The Urgent Need for Universal and Permanent Paid Sick Leave Legislation

This report, titled No Nova Scotian Should Have to Work Sick, The Urgent Need for Universal and Permanent Paid Sick Leave Legislation, examines the need for paid sick leave in Nova Scotia and what it should look like.

Authored by a team of researchers at Acadia University, the report underlines that for paid sick leave to be effective, it must be universal, paid, adequate, permanent, accessible and employer-provided. It recommends that employers be legislated to provide 10 paid days per year to allow workers time to access preventative health services or to recover from common illnesses

Prior to the pandemic, only 46% of Nova Scotia workers had paid sick leave provided by their employers. A total of 69% of workers who earn $25,000 do not have access to paid sick leave. The data also shows that younger workers and those with high school education or less have the least access. Only 28% of those who work in seasonal, term or on-call jobs have access to paid sick leave.

This report also reviews temporary sick leave policies from federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions in Canada to demonstrate how they must be improved.