This leave is an unpaid leave for employees who have been employed by the same employer for at least 90 days. The leave allows an employee to care for a critically ill child or adult who is a family member. The leave ends: up to 36 weeks after the employee starts caring for a critically ill child up to 16 weeks after the employee starts caring for a critically ill adult the last day of the work week in which the critically ill child or adult dies. For example, if the person dies on Tuesday, the leave ends on Saturday (unless your employer has a different work week). at the end of the period for care stated in the medical certificate. This means if the medical certificate has a specific date when care ends, the leave ends on that date. the last day of the work week in which the employee stops caring for the critically ill child or adult. For example, if you stop caring for the person on Wednesday, the leave ends on Saturday (unless your employer has a different work week). The critically ill person must be a family member to the employee. The law says who is a family member. See the list on the Alberta Government's webpage. Before starting the leave, you must provide a medical certificate to your employer stating: that the child or adult is critically ill and needs care or support from one or more family members the start date of providing care or support the end date of providing care or support the day the leave began, if the leave began before the certificate was issued If you cannot provide the certificate beforehand, you must provide it as soon as possible. Before starting the leave, you must also give your employer at least 2 weeks' written notice. The notice should include your estimated return date. If you cannot give 2 weeks' notice, you must give as much notice as possible. If your return date changes, you must let your employer know. Before returning to work, you must give your employer at least one week's written notice of your return date. You and your employer can agree to a shorter notice period. When you return to work, your employer must give you back your old position or give you alternative work that is similar to what you were doing before the leave. Your employer must give you at least the same pay and benefits as you had before the leave. If you decide not to go back to your job, you must give your employer at least 2 weeks' written notice. This means you are quitting your job. Your employer does not pay you termination pay if you quit. You can take the leave in one or more periods, but each period must be at least one week long. For example, you can take say 6 weeks, return to work and then take another 10 weeks. If two or more employees employed by the same employer want to take this leave to care for the same family member, the employer does not have to give all the employees leave at the same time. The employer can ask the employees to take leaves one at a time. Last Reviewed: November 2020