Allocate and pay employee sick leave

Wave makes it easy to allocate and pay sick leave, whether you offer paid sick time as required by employment standards or have your own company-specific plan as part of your employment agreement.

In this article

• Confirm sick leave requirements
• Opt in to a paid sick leave policy
• Review your current sick leave policy
• Modify your current paid sick leave policy
• Record and pay out employee sick leave

Confirm sick leave requirements

As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring you meet the obligations of any applicable employment standards and your employment agreement.

Prince Edward Island has a paid sick leave requirement for employees with more than five years of continuous service. As of October 1, 2024, there will be changes to the paid sick leave requirement. Learn more in this resource from the Prince Edward Island government.

BC has a paid sick leave requirement for employees who have been employed for more than 90 consecutive days. Learn more about BC Illness or Injury Leave.

Opt in to a paid sick leave policy

Remember that each employee’s paid sick leave policy needs to be modified separately. Changes made to one employee's sick leave policy, including opting in to a policy, will not affect other employees' sick leave policies.

1. In the left-hand navigation menu, click Payroll > Employees.
2. Find the employee whose policy you want to review and to the right of their name click Edit.
3. Click Sick Leave.
4. To begin to offer paid sick leave click Opt In
5. A summary of how the basic sick leave policy works is displayed, and changes can be made in the next step. Once you’ve reviewed the details, click Confirm.

Review your current sick leave policy

Each employee in Wave has their own sick leave policy.

1. In the left-hand navigation menu, click Payroll > Employees.
2. Find the employee whose policy you want to review and to the right of their name click Edit. 
3. Click Sick Leave.

Modify your paid sick leave policy

Remember that each employee’s paid sick leave policy needs to be modified separately.

1. In the left-hand navigation menu, click Payroll > Employees.
2. Find the employee whose policy you want to review and to the right of their name click Edit. 
3. Click Sick Leave.
4. To make a change to the existing policy, click the pen icon. You’ll find helpful instructions to help you make changes to your sick leave policy.
5. Click save changes to save any changes and return to the sick leave policy page.

Record and pay out employee sick leave

To add paid sick time to employee pay, enter the hours of sick time being used into their timesheet before approving payroll. Learn how in How to fill in your employee's timesheet.