Proposed restrictions on sick notes for Manitoba employers

In November 2025, the Manitoba Government announced that it intended to restrict an employer’s ability to require sick notes from employees.

On Thursday, March 5, the Manitoba Government tabled Bill 11, officially titled The Employment Standards Code Amendment Act (Sick Notes For Employee Absences. Bill 11 proposes to amend The Employment Standards Code to regulate employer requests for sick notes due to an employee’s absence from work.

While Bill 11 introduces a significant restriction on a provincially regulated employer’s ability to request sick notes, the proposed legislation does provide opportunities for employers to continue requesting medical documentation in certain circumstances.

Limit on sick notes

Under Bill 11, an employer can only require an employee to provide a sick note from a health care practitioner for an absence related to an injury or illness under one of the following two conditions:

• The absence continues for a period of more than seven consecutive days
• The employee, prior to or as a result of the absence, has been absent from work due to injury or illness for more than ten scheduled workdays in the calendar year

For the purpose of counting how many workdays an employee has been absent in a calendar year, Bill 11 proposes that absence for any part of a day may be counted by an employer as one day of absence.

However, Bill 11 also provides that this restriction does not restrict an employer’s ability to request:

• A certificate from a physician or midwife when the employee is seeking a leave of absence under the Code which requires the employee to provide such a certificate (such as maternity leave)
• A certificate from a health care practitioner if the certificate is to verify that the employee is fit to return to work

Reimbursement obligation

Bill 11 further proposes that employers who have requested a sick note from an employee must reimburse the employee for the cost of obtaining the sick note. An employee has 30 days from obtaining their sick note to provide a receipt to their employer, and the employer would then have 30 days to issue the reimbursement.

If an employer does not provide reimbursement, Bill 11 provides that the unpaid amount would be deemed wages owing to the employee, such that the employee could file a claim with Employment Standards for recovery of the unpaid amount.

Who can provide sick notes

When an employer is entitled to require a sick note from an employee, Bill 11 provides that the documentation can be provided by a broad range of health care professionals, including:

• Physicians
• Physician assistants or clinical assistants
• Registered nurses, nurse practitioners, registered psychiatric nurses or licensed practical nurses
• Psychologists
• Midwifes
• Any healthcare professionals outside Manitoba that are equivalent to the above, where care is provided in a jurisdiction outside of Manitoba
• Any healthcare professionals to be prescribed by regulation

Accordingly, an employer would be restricted from requiring that the sick note be from a specific health care practitioner and the employee has discretion to receive treatment and documentation from a range of practitioners.

Other proposed changes

Other related changes proposed by Bill 11 include the following:

• Currently, the medical certificate an employee would need to provide to an employer with respect to taking a maternity leave can only be issued by a physician. Bill 11 proposes that the certificate may also be issued by a midwife.
• Currently an employee who has been employed for 30 days may take up to three days of unpaid family leave and an employer may request reasonable verification for the need for such a leave. Bill 11 would seek to clarify that in requesting reasonable verification, employers cannot request a sick note contrary to the restrictions outlined above.
• Currently an employer may request an employee taking a public health emergency leave to provide verification for the need for such a leave. Bill 11 would seek to clarify that in requesting reasonable verification, employers cannot request a sick note contrary to the restrictions outlined above.
• Since March 1, 2020, for certain statutory leaves under the Code, such as maternity leave, compassionate care leave and long-term leave for serious injury or illness, an employer can only require an employee to provide medical certificates if permitted by regulation (which was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic). Bill 11 would seek to repeal this restriction and allow employers to request medical certificates in those situations as usual.

Bill 11 would come into effect 180 days after the day it receives royal assent. As Bill 11 is at first reading, it may be subject to further revision, and its introduction date is not yet known.

Key takeaways

Bill 11 proposes to introduce the first restriction on requesting medical documentation in Manitoba’s history. However, Bill 11 still provides for significant exemptions for an employer to continue requiring medical notes, including for longer absences exceeding seven consecutive days, for employees who are chronically absent from work for more than ten days in a year and where necessary to consider an employee’s fitness for work.

Even when an employer can request medical documentation, Bill 11 would also provide for a new obligation to reimburse the employee for the costs of obtaining the document.

As a result, employers will need to be strategic and deliberate when deciding when to require medical documentation from an employee.

MLT Aikins helps employers to respond quickly and effectively to legislative and regulatory developments, providing proactive, practical and innovative advice and assistance on all labour and employment matters. Please contact a member of our labour and employment team if you would like to discuss any of this information further.

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