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Volume 68, No. 19

193/2025

The British Columbia Gazette,

Part II

November 18, 2025

B.C. Reg. 193/2025 , deposited November 12, 2025, under the EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS AMENDMENT ACT, 2025 [section 6] and EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ACT [section 127]. Order in Council 514/2025, approved and ordered November 12, 2025.

On the recommendation of the undersigned, the Lieutenant Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, orders the following:

(

a) sections 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025 , S.B.C. 2025, c. 6, are brought into force;

(

b) the Employment Standards Regulation, B.C. Reg. 396/95, is amended as set out in the attached

Schedule 1;

(

c) effective April 1, 2026,

(

i) section 2 of the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025 is brought into force, and

(ii) the Employment Standards Regulation is amended as set out in the attached

Schedule 2.

— J. WHITESIDE, Minister of Labour ; A. KANG, Presiding Member of the Executive Council .

Schedule 1

Part 7.02 of the Employment Standards Regulation, B.C. Reg. 396/95, is amended by adding the following sections:

Prescribed health professions and individuals for sick notes

45.032

(1) All designated health professions, within the meaning of the Health Professions Act , other than the designated health professions of medicine and nursing, are prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (

c) of the definition of "health practitioner" in

section 49.2 (1) of the Act.

(2) An individual who is a member of an employee’s immediate family is prescribed in relation to the employee for the purposes of the definition of "health-related leave" in

section 49.2 (1) of the Act.

Specified circumstances in which sick note cannot be requested

45.033

(1) For the purposes of the definition of "specified circumstances" in

section 49.2 (1) of the Act, the circumstances specified in relation to an employee’s health-related leave are that

(

a) the health-related leave is for a period of no more than 5 consecutive days, and

(

b) in the calendar year, the employee has taken no more than one other health-related leave for a period of no more than 5 consecutive days.

(2) In calculating a period of health-related leave under subsection (1) of this section,

(

a) each type of health-related leave taken under

Part 6 of the Act counts as a separate health-related leave, and

(

b) the period of health-related leave is considered to be taken in the calendar year in which the leave begins.

Exceptions to

section 49.2 of the Act

45.034

Section 49.2 (2) of the Act does not apply in relation to an employee’s health-related leave if a specified health record requested by the employer in relation to the health-related leave is necessary to assess whether the employee

(

a) is fit to return to work after the health-related leave, or

(

b) requires a change to the employee’s work or workplace to enable the employee to return to work after the health-related leave.

Schedule 2

Section 45.032 (1) of the Employment Standards Regulation, B.C. Reg. 396/95, is amended by striking out " Health Professions Act " and substituting " Health Professions and Occupations Act ".

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