HPZ Crusher Services employees have an allowance of ten (10) days of paid job-protected Personal Emergency Leave each calendar year. New HPZ employees hired after 01 March will be allotted a prorated number of days of paid Personal Emergency Leave.

Personal Emergency Leave may be used in any of the following situations:

  • A personal illness, injury or medical emergency (whether caused by the employee or by external factors beyond their control). To help you determine if personal illness applies, please use the Fit to Work Self-Assessment.

  • The death, illness, injury or medical emergency of

    • The employee’s spouse.

    • A parent, step-parent or foster parent of the employee or of the employee’s spouse.

    • A child, step-child or foster child of the employee or of the employee’s spouse.

    • A grandparent, step-grandparent, grandchild or step-grandchild of the employee or of the employee’s spouse.

    • The spouse of a child of the employee.

    • The employee’s brother or sister.

    • A relative of the employee who is dependent on the employee for care or assistance.

Generally, an employee must inform their supervisor before starting the leave that he or she will be taking a personal emergency leave of absence. This can be done by sending a message to HPZ’s Signal group “Operations”. If an employee has to begin the leave before notifying their supervisor, the employee must inform their supervisor as soon as possible after starting it. Notice does not have to be given in writing. Oral notice is sufficient.

NOTE: To ensure employees are accurately paid for eligible Personal Emergency Leave days, the supervisor should inform the Chief of Operations in writing of the employee’s leave as soon as possible.

Employees cannot carry over unused Personal Emergency Leave days to the next calendar year. Employees can take the leave in half days, full days or in periods of more than one day.

If an employee takes a paid Personal Emergency Leave day, they will receive the regular wages they would have earned had they not taken the Leave. Regular wages means wages other than overtime pay, public holiday pay and vacation pay.

PROOF OF ENTITLEMENT

A supervisor or the employer may require an employee to provide evidence “reasonable in the circumstances” that they are eligible for personal emergency leave.

What will be reasonable in the circumstances will depend on all of the facts of the situation, such as the duration of the leave, whether there is a pattern of absences, whether any evidence is available and the cost of the evidence.​​

MEDICAL NOTES

A supervisor may require an employee to provide a medical note from a health practitioner such as a doctor, nurse practitioner or psychologist when the employee is taking the leave because of personal illness, injury or medical emergency if it is “reasonable in the circumstances”.

However, the supervisor can ask only for the following information:

  • the duration or expected duration of the absence

  • the date the employee was seen by a health care professional

  • whether the patient was examined in person by the health care professional issuing the note

Supervisors cannot ask for information about the diagnosis or treatment of the employee’s medical condition.