Employees who experience the death of a family member, as defined below shall be entitled to five (5) working days of bereavement leave with pay.

It is recognized by the parties that the circumstances which call for leave in respect of bereavement are based on individual circumstances. On request, the Employer may, after considering the particular circumstances involved (for example, travel needs), grant leave with or without pay for a period greater than and/or in a manner different than that provided above, and such request shall not be unreasonably denied.

Family, for the purposes of bereavement leave, means parent (or alternatively stepparent or foster parent), sibling (including stepsibling), spouse (including common-law partner), child (including child of common-law partner), stepchild or ward of the Employee, grandchild, parents or siblings of the Employee’s spouse or common-law partner, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, the grandparents, cousin, any person over whom the Employee has legal responsibility, any other person who would ordinarily be considered a member of the Employee’s immediate family, a person permanently residing in the Employee’s household or with whom the Employee permanently resides.

An employee may be eligible for compassionate care leave in accordance with the terms of The Saskatchewan Employment Act to provide care or support to a member of the employee’s family who has a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death.

Employees summoned for jury service shall be entitled to a leave of absence without loss of pay or benefits, sufficient for the purpose of the discharge of the Employee’s jury duties.

Remuneration paid to the Employee by the court must be remitted to the University within thirty (30) days of receipt.

1. The Employer shall recognize a negotiating team consisting of up to three (3) Employees. Employees who are members of the negotiating team shall not lose pay during any negotiating meetings with the Employer, or during a reasonable number of preparatory meetings, held during the Employee’s regular working hours.
2. Subject to operational requirements, the Employer shall grant Union leave without pay in order to serve the Union.
3. Employees participating during normal work hours in a grievance meeting, Occupational Health and Safety meeting, a Joint Committee meeting with the Employer, or any other meeting called by the Employer, shall not be considered to be on leave.
4. The Employer will provide annually to the Union an amount equivalent to a quarter of the pay of one Postdoctoral Fellow at the base rate to compensate members of the union for conducting executive business.

An employee shall qualify for maternity/adoption/parental leave (leave of absence without pay) after 13 weeks continuous employment with the University of Saskatchewan.

An Employee is entitled to apply for maternity leave without pay.

The Employee is required to apply for this leave at least four (4) weeks prior to the commencement of the leave. The length and timing of the leave shall be consistent with the provisions in The Saskatchewan Employment Act (The Act). However, the Employee shall be entitled to no less than nineteen (19) consecutive weeks of maternity leave without pay.

In addition, the leave must commence on the date of the infant’s birth or at any time during the thirteen (13) week period prior to the infant’s estimated date of birth and shall be of uninterrupted duration.

The Employee must provide a certificate from a qualified medical practitioner to ConnectionPoint. The certificate must confirm the pregnancy and give the estimated date of birth.

An Employee who declares in writing to be the adoptive parent of an adopted child is entitled to adoption leave without pay. The length and timing of the leave shall be consistent with the provisions in The Act. However, the Employee shall be entitled to no less than nineteen (19) consecutive weeks of adoption leave without pay.

The employee is required to apply for this leave at least four (4) weeks prior to the expected date the employee begins to care for the child (“care date”). If the employee cannot give four (4) weeks' notice, the University will accept as much notice as is given to the adoptive parents by Saskatchewan Social Services, the birth parent, or the adoption agency.

The leave must commence on the care date, or at any time during the thirteen (13) week period prior to the estimated care date, and shall be of uninterrupted duration. The Employee must provide official confirmation of custody to ConnectionPoint.

Adoption Leave

An Employee who qualified for maternity or adoption leave is also entitled to parental leave without pay. The length and timing of the leave shall be consistent with the provisions in The Act. However, the Employee shall be entitled to up to fifty-nine (59) consecutive weeks of parental leave without pay.

The parental leave is in conjunction with the maternity or adoption leave and must be taken in one continuous period.

An Employee who did not qualify for maternity or adoption leave and who declares to be the parent of a newborn infant or of an adopted child is entitled to parental leave without pay. The length and timing of the leave shall be consistent with the provisions in The Act. However, the Employee shall be entitled to up to seventy-one (71) consecutive weeks of maternity leave without pay. This leave shall be of uninterrupted duration.

The Employee is required to apply for this leave at least four (4) weeks prior to the commencement of the leave or as soon as possible in extenuating circumstances. The leave may commence at any time during the thirteen (13) week period prior to the estimated date of the infant’s birth or the day the child comes into the Employee’s care and must be completed within seventy-eight (78) weeks from the estimated date of the infant’s birth or the day the child comes into the Employee’s care. This leave shall be of uninterrupted duration.

The Employee must provide official confirmation of the infant’s birth or an official confirmation of custody of the adopted child to ConnectionPoint.

After twelve (12) months of continuous service, an employee who qualifies for a leave as defined under Article 31.07, 31.08, 31.09 or 31.10 and is in receipt of Employment Insurance (EI) benefits is eligible to receive supplemental benefits. The Employer will provide a supplemental benefit of 95% (inclusive of EI) of weekly earnings (based on the Employee’s pre-leave earnings) for a period of up to fifteen (15) weeks (including the 1 week waiting period) for Postdoctoral Fellows and for a period of up to twenty-one (21) weeks (including the 1 week waiting period) for Research Associates.

In no case will the total amount of supplemental benefits, employment gross benefits, and any other employment earnings received by the Employee exceed 95% of the the Employee’s regular weekly earnings (based on their pre-leave earnings).

Eligible employees as per Article 31.11 in receipt of extended parental EI benefits, shall receive supplemental benefits in the dollar amount equivalent to what they would have received during a twelve (12) month leave with standard EI benefits.

Postdoctoral Fellows, who qualify for a leave as defined under Article 31.07, 31.08, 31.09 or 31.10 and are eligible for continued funding for current salary under their granting agency during the leave period, are not eligible for supplemental benefits from the Employer, as long as the continued funding by the granting agency is equal to, or greater than, the supplemental benefits provided by the Employer. .

During receipt of supplemental benefits, the Employer shall pay its respective shares of the cost of continuing benefit coverage. During the unpaid portion of the leave, the Employee will be eligible to continue their benefits by paying the full cost of the benefits coverage, unless prohibited by the benefit plan. 

ln the event that an employee wished to breastfeed their infant at work, and provided the worksite is in an appropriate location as determined by the employee and the manager, the employee shall be allowed time off with pay for up to one (1) hour per day for this purpose, provided they have received approval from the appropriate manager. This arrangement may be provided for a maximum of six (6) months in duration.

The Employer shall modify the job functions of an employee who is pregnant or nursing during the period from the beginning of pregnancy to the end of the fifty-second (52nd) week following the birth if any of their current functions may pose a risk to the employee’s health or the health of the foetus or child. At the request of the employer, employees must provide medical information substantiating the need for modification of job functions.

Education leaves for Research Associates are unpaid and are to a maximum of one (1) year, are subject to approval by the supervisor. This leave will be granted if the leave is not unduly disruptive to the operations of the unit, and it is possible to replace the employee on a temporary basis.

In addition to the leaves outlined in this Article, the Employer may grant leaves of absence with or without pay to Employees for legitimate personal reasons. Requests for such leaves shall not be unreasonably denied.

An Employee may be eligible for Critically Ill Family Care Leave in accordance with the terms of The Saskatchewan Employment Act. Critically Ill Child Care Leave is an unpaid job-protected leave of up to thirty-seven (37) weeks that allows parents to care for a critically ill or injured child. Critically Ill Adult Leave is an unpaid, job protected leave of up to seventeen (17) weeks for the care of an adult family member who is critically ill or injured.

An Employee shall be eligible for ten (10) days of leave if the Employee, a child of the Employee, or a person for whom an Employee is a caregiver experiences interpersonal or sexual violence, as defined in The Saskatchewan Employment Act. Employees may take five (5) days as paid leave and the balance as unpaid leave.