Remote worker living abroad requests caregiving leave after parental leave
A Manitoba employer was successful in challenging a claim that it punished a worker for requesting family leave, but still lost the case.
In a decision dated Aug. 28, 2026, Manitoba Labour Board vice-chairperson J. Mayor said Loewen Windows had not broken the law’s leave protections when it fired a worker, but still could not show it had just cause for the dismissal.
A string of leave requests, and a longer stay than planned
Hired in 2022, the worker had taken approved remote work stretches abroad before, with no pushback from the company. Early in 2025, he took an approved parental leave overseas after his wife had a baby. When the leave ended, he did not return to the office as planned, and the company only found out he was still away when his manager called to check in.
He then asked for extra time off to take his child to sessions for autism support. The company said no, citing business needs, and told him to be back at his Manitoba workplace by a set date. That same day, he said he would apply instead for a different kind of leave: one meant for caring for a sick family member, in this case, his child.
Ten weeks is the most family caregiver leave someone can get under federal rules, and that is what he asked for. Over the next few weeks, he went back and forth with the company’s human resources director, who wanted medical proof and confirmation the application had actually been filed.
Every couple of years, the same false stories come back. A claim that an election was rigged before a single vote was cast. An old video of violence, stripped of its date and place, presented as b...