How is parental leave calculated in ontario

A birth mother who takes pregnancy leave must ordinarily begin her parental leave as soon as her pregnancy leave ends. In this case, the employee can either commence her leave when the pregnancy leave ends or choose to return to work and start her parental leave later.

If she chooses to return to work, she will be able to start her parental leave anytime within 78 weeks of the birth or the date the baby first came home from the hospital.

The parental leave does not have to be completed within this week period. It just has to be started. Birth mothers who take pregnancy leave are entitled to take up to 61 weeks of parental leave.

All other new parents are entitled to take up to 63 weeks of parental leave. In the case where the child was born or came into the custody, care and control of the employee before December 3, , a birth mother who takes pregnancy leave is entitled to take up to 35 weeks of leave, and all other new parents are entitled to take up to 37 weeks of parental leave. Employees may decide to take a shorter leave if they wish.

However, once an employee has started parental leave, they must take it all at one time. The employee cannot use up part of the leave, return to work for the employer and then go back on parental leave for the unused portion.

However, under the ESA , a return to work, even on a part-time basis, would end the parental leave. An employee who has a miscarriage or stillbirth, or whose spouse or same-sex partner has a miscarriage or stillbirth, is not eligible for parental leave. Because EI benefits can be taken over a shorter period or longer period, it is strongly advised that employees tell the employer exactly how many weeks they plan to take as parental leave when they give notice for example, 37 weeks or 63 weeks.

If an employee is also taking a pregnancy leave, she may, but is not required to, give her employer notice of the parental leave when she gives notice of her pregnancy leave. In this case, the employee has two weeks after stopping work to give the employer written notice that they are taking parental leave. The parental leave begins on the day the employee stops working. Suppose an employee has given notice to begin a parental leave.

The employee can begin the leave earlier than they have told the employer by giving the employer new written notice at least two weeks before the new, earlier date. If the employee intends to use less than 61 or 63 weeks of leave, it is advised that the employee clearly state the number of weeks they plan to take in the new written notice.

Leroy gave his employer written notice that he would begin his parental leave on September Now he wants to start his leave on August Leroy must give his employer new written notice by August 13 two weeks before August An employee can also change the starting date of the leave to a later date than they originally told the employer. To do this, the employee must give the employer new written notice at least two weeks before the original date the leave was going to begin.

Wendy gave her employer written notice that she would start her parental leave on September Now Wendy wants to start her leave on September An employee who fails to give the required notice does not lose their right to a parental leave. An employee can tell the employer when they will be returning to work, but is not required to do so.

If the employee does not specify a return date, or did not specify a return date when the original notice that the employee was planning to take the leave was given, the employer is to assume that the employee will take their full 61 or 63 weeks of leave. For example, if an employee did not specify that in the original notice that they planned to take 35 or 37 weeks of leave, the employer will assume that the employee will take the full 61 or 63 weeks of leave.

An employer cannot require an employee to return from leave early. An employee may want to return to work earlier than the date they were scheduled to return. If so, the employee must give the employer written notice at least four weeks before the new, earlier day.

An employee may want to return to work later than they were scheduled to return. In this case, the employee must give the employer new written notice at least four weeks before the date the employee was originally going to return.

However, unless the employer agrees, the employee cannot schedule a new return date that would result in the employee taking a longer leave than they are entitled to under the ESA. Suppose an employee decides to resign before the end of their parental leave, or at the end of the leave.

In either case, the employee must be paid at least as much as they were earning before the leave. Also, if the wages for the job went up while the employee was on leave, or would have gone up if they hadn't been on leave, the employer must pay the higher wage when the employee returns from leave.

If an employer has dismissed an employee for legitimate reasons that are totally unrelated to the fact that the employee took a leave, the employer does not have to reinstate the employee. Employees on pregnancy or parental leave have a right to continue to take part in certain benefit plans that their employer may offer.

These include:. The employer must continue to pay its share of the premiums for any of these plans that were offered before the leave, unless the employee tells the employer in writing that they will not continue to pay their own share of the premiums.

In most cases, employees must continue to pay their share of the premiums in order to continue to participate in these plans. Employees who are on pregnancy or parental leave can also continue to participate in other benefit plans if employees who are on other types of leave are able to continue to participate in those plans.

In addition, a female employee may be entitled to disability benefits during that part of the leave during which she would not have been able to work for health reasons related to her pregnancy or childbirth. Employees continue to earn credits toward length of employment, length of service, and seniority during periods of leave.

She is on pregnancy and parental leave for her entire fifth year of employment. However, while she was on the leave she was not earning credit for active service and so under her contract she was not earning paid vacation days during the leave itself. At the end of the leave she would not have earned any paid vacation under contract but the employer would be required to ensure that she received at least the minimum vacation entitlement for that year two weeks of vacation time off plus four per cent of any wages earned in that year.

Karen is a member of a union that has bargaining rights at her workplace. Karen continues to accrue seniority for all purposes during her pregnancy and parental leaves, just as if she had been actively employed. The period of a leave is not included when determining whether an employee has completed a probationary period. If an employee was on probation at the start of a leave, they must complete the probationary period after returning to work.

The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development advances safe, fair and harmonious workplace practices that are essential to the social and economic well-being of the people of Ontario. Skip to main content. Pregnancy and parental leave. Pregnancy leave Pregnant employees have the right to take pregnancy leave of up to 17 weeks, or longer in certain circumstances, of unpaid time off work.

Qualifying for pregnancy leave A pregnant employee is entitled to pregnancy leave whether she is a full-time, part-time, permanent or term contract employee provided that: she is employed by an employer that is covered by the ESA , and she started her employment at least 13 weeks before the date her baby is expected to be born the "due date".

Example: When an employee is off sick Fatima began her employment 15 weeks before her due date. Example: When a baby is born before the due date Meredith began her employment 15 weeks before her due date. Length of a pregnancy leave A pregnancy leave can last a maximum of 17 weeks for most employees. Miscarriages and stillbirths An employee who has a miscarriage or stillbirth more than 17 weeks before her due date is not entitled to a pregnancy leave.

The pregnancy leave of an employee who has a miscarriage or stillbirth ends on the date that is the later of: 17 weeks after the leave began; or 12 weeks after the stillbirth or miscarriage.

Almost 1! Yes, I felt it was super hard going to just EI parental leave payments too, lol. I felt really poor. Then at around 10 months I had to leave the room hence us sleeping in living room because he would wake up at am and see me from his crib and cry.

Hopefully they will at least stretch it to 20 weeks in the near future so mothers do not have to use as much vacation or sick pay as they do now when they are on leave. I think you should stick with the 12 month leave. Kris- Thanks for your suggestion! I would find it difficult to not see my month old during the day- that is like the absolute cutest time. The extra weeks I believe the above person is referring to is unpaid family medical leave.

Nobody should have to go back to work and stick a 6 week old in daycare. Besides it being crazy that the max amount of time we can get here in the US is 12 weeks, I found it mind blowing when people would ask me if I was taking 6 weeks or the full 12 weeks. Most definitely the 12 weeks! With our oldest it was a lot harder to go back to work because I went back part-time.

This time around I was already PRN 3 shifts in 6 weeks. So after I did my computer training and worked a shift, I was off for another 2 weeks. However, if I could get a year I would definitely take it. I agree with you that the 12 month option sounds better than the 18 month option.

At 6 weeks a newborn is so vulnerable to so many things, like severe infections etc. Yeah going back to work for me was pretty stressful but it got better after 3 months. If I could do it again I would absolutely take months, financial impact be damned.

As long as I can make it work financially, even if I just squeak by, I would do it. Seems like a good trade-off. Owen- Good point. I think if I were going back full time I would definitely take the 18 months. I am planning to work part time when I return so I think it should be okay with 12 months of leave. We have a 6 month fully paid maternity leave in India. Post that, it is unpaid leave. I extended mat leave by a month, since my employer allows that not everyone does.

It would have been a good option to have a 12 month or 18 month option available, just to be with my baby. But I also think it would have been very difficult getting back to work for me, as my industry changes a lot, so I would have taken a lot of time to get to a work rhythm.

Shirly- Is the maternity leave fully paid 6 months paid for by employer or is it subsidized by the government? So interesting, thanks for sharing- love hearing what other countries are doing. It is also different for those who own their own small businesses. This is good to start a conversation but there are many different aspects. Anonymous- Thanks for your feedback. So many factors to consider and you can choose anywhere form months. For my family it made the most sense to take I had a summer baby, the end of July.

My older children are out of school, so I can spend time with all of them plus my work really slows down in the summer and the boss tries to send staff home if she can. There is also the consideration that most women take a few weeks off before they give birth. This would mean that baby is not quite a year if they only take 12 months. Daycares often charge more for under 1, and it would also be helpful to know what ages the classes are at.

My daycare has all children under 4 in a room together, but some have separate rooms for under 1. Being pregnant How EI maternity benefits in Canada work There's lots to do before baby arrives—finish the nursery, pack your hospital bag and apply for EI. Photo: iStockPhoto. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Learn more or change your cookie preferences.

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