Other than the public holidays recognized by the University of Ottawa, as a CUPE 2626 member, you are entitled to the following leaves and absences:

Bereavement Leave

You have a right to a paid leave of three (3) consecutive working days in the ten (10) days following the death of a close relative. The Collective Agreement defines “close relative” as your mother, father, stepfather or stepmother, foster mother, foster father, sister, brother, spouse, children, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law or brother-in-law and grandparent.

Conference Leave

You have the right to a paid leave of up to ten (10) hours of work when you attend a conference.

If you are presenting a paper or a poster at your conference, you may also have access to our Conference Fund.

Compassionate Leave

You are allowed to take paid leave up to ten (10) hours, every year, to take care of a close relative. (You can find the definition of ‘close relative’ in our Collective Agreement)

This paid leave is reserved for emergencies or family obligations such as the temporary care of a sick family member, a doctor appointment, etc.

You may also be allowed to take unpaid leave up to ten (10) working days to take care of a close relative.

Court Leave

You are granted a paid leave to serve on jury duty or to appear as a witness in court. You must provide your supervisor with a written confirmation of the dates and times served, signed by an appropriate official of the court.

Sick Leave

You have a sick leave bank. For every 32.5h of work, you earn 2.5h of paid sick leave. Accumulated sick leaves transfer from one semester to another, up to a maximum of 38 hours.

If you have used all your paid leave hours, you can still continue on unpaid leave.

You must notify your Supervisor and the Chair of your Department as to the expected duration of your leave.

Pregnancy Leave

As a CUPE 2626-00 member, you are entitled to paid pregnancy leave of a maximum of seventeen (17) consecutive weeks. You may start your leave 17 weeks before the anticipated date of birth up to the day of birth.

In the unfortunate and sad circumstances where you had a miscarriage or a stillbirth, please contact us. This leave and other benefits may apply to you. We’re here to listen, and we’re here to help.

In order to obtain a pregnancy leave, you must present a medical certificate attesting to your expected date of delivery to Health Services. You must also submit Health Services a written notice at least two (2) weeks before the leave, except if your doctor states that this deadline cannot be observed.

All Employees are entitled to pregnancy leave. However, the rules about monetary compensation vary according to each situation:

1. If your pregnancy leave takes place during the term of your contract, you have the right to receive the lesser between the balance of the remuneration owed under the contract and seventy-five (75) hours at their wage rate.
2. If a contract was to be issued to you before or during your pregnancy leave as per your job security rights (section 18 of the Collective Agreement), and if this contract was to start during your leave, you shall have the right to receive the monetary value of your contract.

Please note that if you are entitled to collect Employment Insurance benefits, the University will reduce payments accordingly.

Parental Leave

If you have completed thirteen (13) weeks of employment, you have the right to unpaid parental leave following the birth of your child or the coming of a child into your custody for the first time. This leave lasts for up to thirty-five (35) weeks if you also took a pregnancy leave, and thirty-seven (37) weeks otherwise.

Gender Reassignment Leave

You are allowed up to one (1) month paid leave in order to undergo the medical procedure(s) related to gender reassignment. You must present a medical certificate to Health Services, which will then advise the hiring Faculty/Department that this is a legitimate health related leave.

In order to make it easy to work on campus, CUPE 2626 members have access to free parking at any University of Ottawa parking location (other than pay-and-display, parking meters or other restricted areas) at any time during weekends and holidays.

In order to access this benefit, you will need an identification label issued by Human Resources (550, Cumberland Street, Room 019) put on your ID card. Afterwards, you can pick up a parking permit from uOttawa’s parking services (139, Louis-Pasteur Street, Room 133).

CUPE 2626 members have access to free second-language courses offered by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI).

To register for these courses, you must first take a placement test to determine your level of proficiency in the second language. You can complete the placement test by clicking on the following link. The purpose of the placement test is to determine your current level of language proficiency and the course to which it corresponds.

Once you have completed the placement test, a test result will be generated. After you have obtained your test result, you may choose a corresponding course (for example, F3 = FLS 1810). All course descriptions and schedules can be viewed here ici.

After you have chosen your course, you may complete the Online Registration Form for the course you would like to follow. It can be accessed by clicking here.