In the September 1996 issue of FOCUS, we reported the Ontario Divisional Court decision in OSSTF, District 34 v. Essex County Board of Education (see “Refusal of sick leave during maternity violates Ontario Human Rights Code“ on our Publications page), which suggests that women employees will be able to invoke the sick leave provisions of their collective agreements for at least part of their maternity leaves.
Leave to appeal this decision was granted by the Ontario Court of Appeal on September 11, 1996. For more recent developments, see “Ruling on use of sick leave by employees on maternity leave stands in Essex County case” on our Publications page.