It’s Mat Leave Monday! Today I’m giving a brief overview of how maternity leave works in Canada. If you’re really interested in the nitty-gritty details, you can read all about it here.
Canadian parents are eligible for maternity and parental benefits, administered through the federal government’s employment insurance system. In practice most people refer to both as ‘maternity leave’, particularly when only the birth mother is receiving them. However, there are important distinctions.
Maternity benefits are paid for 15 weeks, and only a birth mother is eligible to receive these benefits. Even surrogate mothers, or those whose babies do not survive, may apply. Parental benefits are paid for 35 weeks, and partners and adoptive parents may receive these benefits as well. If parents share benefits, the total between them may not exceed 50 weeks. In addition, there is a 2-week waiting period on the shared claim, so the total time away from work is 52 weeks.
There are some exceptions to this. In order to receive maternity or parental benefits you must qualify for employment insurance. In general, this means that you have 600 hours of insured income during the previous 52 weeks, or since your last leave. The self-employed can’t receive benefits, since their hours are not insurable (although Stephen Harper has proposed that should change).
Maternity and parental benefits do represent a significant drop in income for most families. You receive only 55% of your insurable earnings, up to a maximum of $447 a week (and $0 for the 2-week waiting period). Some employers do offer supplemental benefits for all or part of the leave, but I don’t think this is the norm. There also may be conditions applied to supplemental benefits in some cases.
Edited to add – For claims established Dec. 27, 2009 or later, the maximum benefits have increased to $457 per week.
Canada compares pretty favourably to other countries. While our maternity and parental leave policies are not the very best, we’re competitive on the global stage. If you’re curious to compare for yourself you can find some articles here, here, and here.
Why should we care about maternity and parental benefits? And why should we, as taxpayers, foot the bill? Because generous maternity benefits increase the birth rate (see here and here and even here) and breastfeeding rates (read this and this). And because we want our children and families to be happy and healthy. Jacob is almost 12 weeks old, and leaving him now to return to work would be very difficult for me. Because I receive maternity benefits I don’t have to make the economic decision to return to work before my child and I are ready. And that’s a very good thing.
hi, i just have a question.my wife did not take any maternity leave from EI. she had 2 months paid maternity leave from her company.after that i took parental leave and EI gave me 35 weeks.the 35 weeks will end this March and my coworker told me that the company is really slow and i’m afraid that i will be layoff when i come back to work.do you think if i got laid off i can still apply for EI benefits? i’ve been working for the company for 1 1/2 years already.
thanks
roland
I replied to Roland directly by email. However, I wanted to reply here for the benefit of others.
I don’t work for the government. I’m just a mom on maternity leave myself. As I understand it you would need to have enough insurable hours over the past 52 weeks to qualify, and then the EI you’ve already received would be counted against you. But really, the best thing for you to do is to contact Service Canada. You can find their website here: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/home.shtml
The phone number for EI questions is 1 800 206-7218.
Hi Amber
One of the issues I see with the mat leave system (at least as an ex-Vancouverite, but maybe this applies to the rest of the country as well) is that mat leave ends when your child is about 1 year old. Vancouver had very few daycare spots for that age group due to regulations about the worker/child ratio at that age. By the time the child is 18 months, this ratio goes down so there are a lot more spots for 18 month old kiddos (still not a lot, but more). Finding care for a 1 year old in Vancouver means getting on a wait list as soon as you find out you are pregnant!! Seriously. The mat leave, in my opinion, should mesh with the child care options. And of course, self-employed moms should get it too, but that’s whole nuther bag.
Thanks for mentioning my post on mat leave and breastfeeding rates.
Hi,
If my Daughter works for my Canadian Corporation is she eligible for Mat leave from a “Family” owned business?
I am also very interested in the answer to Anne’s question as I fall in the same category as her daughter and am very concerned for my financial future after the baby. I work for my Father’s company. We are Incorporated.
Those who work for family members are in a bit of a gray area. I found two websites that said she may or may not be covered. Here are the sites:
http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/employment-insurance-law-in-canada-879503.html
http://www.canadian-lawyers.ca/understand-your-legal-issue/employment/1022854/
And here is a quote from one of the articles:
“Most work for employers in Canada is insured. However, you may not be insured, and therefore not entitled to EI … if you work for a family member … In some cases, work for family members in Canada does qualify for Employment Insurance. You can be sure you qualify if your pay stub shows employment insurance deductions from your wages”
So, provided that you have been paying EI premiums, and aren’t an owner or shareholder in the business, you will probably qualify. However, your best course of action is to speak with Service Canada since they are the ones who make the determination. They will need to make a ruling at the time of application. If you want to know in advance, you can request a ruling before you even get pregnant. Here is Service Canada’s contact info:
Please contact us at 1 800 206-7218 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm and press “0″ to speak to a representative.
hi,
I am wondering if it is your first time to receive benefits in Canada,if you need 600 or 900 hours.For som ereason I think it is 900 …?
I NEED FUUL INFORMATION ABOUT METRNINTY.BCOZ I NEED TO APPLY IT SOON.MY QUE.IS THAT DO WE NEED900 OR 600 HOURS.AND ITS MY FIRST BABY.I HAVE SOME COPLICATIONS TOO.SHOULD I APPLY SICKNESS.DOES IT EFFECT TO METERNITY IF I APPLY SICKNESS LEAVE B4.
For sickness, maternity and parental leave you only need 600 hours.
It doesn’t affect your maternity leave if you apply for sickness benefits before your maternity. However, you really should contact Service Canada to find out more. You can learn more about combining sickness and maternity leave here: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/special.shtml#received
Or you can call Service Canada at 1 800 206-7218.
I have a question: Is your employer obligated to pay your time off to attend prenatal appointments?
If not, can they force you to take vacation to attend the prenatal appointments?
Thanks
Does it matter if your 600 hours of insurable income within the last 52 weeks comes from 2 different employers?
For example, if you changed jobs a few months before you became pregnant- you may only end up working for your employer for about 6 months.
I realize that your new employer would not be able to guarantee your position, but am I right in understanding that you would still receive benefits?
…and another thing, if you work within the school system and you have your baby during summer break, would your receivable amount decrease due to the fact that you didn’t earn anything in July/Aug?
Something worth noting: Adoptive parents do not receive Maternity Leave but they do receive Parental Leave (35 weeks)- a point of contention for many adopting parents. The reason for this is that Maternity Leave is expressly for the recovery of the physical duress of child birth.
However, adopting parents are entitled to take off a full year from their job and have their job held for them for the full 52 weeks (they would not be paid for those additional weeks).
I applied for my EI online, and mailed in my ROE and a letter from the agency and received my payment 4 days later!! Now that must be a record.
I have been on Mat leave for the full year and it has ended on Oct 3rd. I was wondering if there is any way I could be entitled to EI? I don’t want to go back to work because there’s nothing open in my area and day care out here is priced so high and I don’t want someone else raising my child. If you have any information that could help me please let me know thanks!
Nicole
i got laid off 2 days ago and i’m 10 weeks pregnant ,my question is do i qualify for maternity now or do i apply for EI . i need info please
Hi, Just wodering how much of a severance I am looking at receiving. I was with my company for 2 years and just found out a couple of weeks before i was due to return that my position was eliminated. Even though I was the only one in my small division.
Hello,
I will be going on leave starting next week. I didn’t work the whole 600 hours in the 52 weeks because I was in school. On the gov’t website it says that the work period can be extended back to 105 weeks if you are attending a course of instruction. Should I still qualify for benefits?
Thanks!
Since you are the Mat leave guru and all….I have a question for you.
Does it matter if the 600 hours worked is Full time hours or part time hours?
Curious….