Maternity and parental leave benefits can be provided through Employment Insurance. In Canada, parents are allowed to take maternity and parental leave to spend more time raising their child. Employment Insurance offers temporary income to biological or surrogate mothers who are pregnant or have just given birth to take 15 weeks of maternity leave followed by 35 weeks of parental leave. Quebec citizens are not eligible for these benefits and must apply for the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan.
Qualifying
To qualify in receiving benefits, either maternity or parental, you must meet the following criteria below. Keep in mind that maternity benefits are for mothers and parental benefits are for both, mothers and fathers.
- You’re pregnant or a new mother who has recently given birth
- You’ll be caring for your newborn or newly adopted child
- Provide proof that your weekly earnings will go down by 40% or more
- You’ve worked 600+ insurable hours during the last 52 weeks or since your last claim, whichever is shorter.
Be aware that if you’ve had an EI claim within the last year, the number of weeks that you could receive for maternity and parental leave may be limited.
Before you Apply
Before you apply for maternity and parental leave, make sure that you gather all the applicable documents needed to complete the application such as
- Social Insurance Number
- Government Issued ID or Passport
- Direct Deposit Information or Void Cheque
- Your Employment Information
- Dismissal of employment letter if applicable
- Record of Employment for the last 52 weeks
- Due Date of Child or Date of Adoption
- Mother’s Maiden Name
The application can be submitted via
- Online at www.canada.ca/ei
- At a Service Canada office.
Amount of Benefits
The amount that you will receive depends on your insurable earnings. The benefit amount is roughly 55% of your average weekly earnings. For 2020, the maximum amount is $573 per week.
If you’re thinking of taking extended parental leave which is 18 months, the benefit amount is 33% of your weekly earnings. Extended Parental Leave was introduced in 2017 in order to give parents more time to spend with their children. For 2020, this maximum is $344 a week.
Applying for Maternity and Parental Leave Benefits
When you apply for maternity and parental leave benefits, keep in mind that there is a 1-week waiting period before benefits start.
Maternity Benefits
Applying for maternity benefits can be done online. Women are urged to apply for the benefit as soon as they stop working in order to not lose the benefit or cause any delays in receiving the income. The benefits can begin as early as 12 weeks before your due date but must stop 17 weeks after you’re given birth.
The benefits are for a maximum of 15 weeks with a maximum amount of $573 per week.
As mentioned above, the maternity benefits end 17 weeks after the due date. At that point, the parental benefits may start for an additional 35 or 61 more weeks, discussed below. It’s recommended that when you’re applying for maternity benefits, you apply for parental benefits as well in order to save time.
Parental Benefits
When you apply for maternity benefits, it’s recommended that you apply for parental benefits as well for continuity. When it comes to parental benefits, you have two options. Be aware that you can’t change your option once chosen.
- Standard Parental Benefits – Benefits can be received for up to 35 weeks and the maximum for 2020 is $573 a week.
- Extended Parental Benefits – Benefits can be received for up to 61 weeks and the maximum for 2020 is $334 a week.
Sharing Parental Benefits
Parental benefits are eligible to be shared among spouses. Sharing parental benefits increases the number of weeks and time off. As of March 2019, couples can take 40 weeks off for standard parental benefits and 69 weeks for extended parental benefits.
- Sharing Standard Parental Benefits – Benefits can be received for up to 40 weeks, 5 more weeks added
- Sharing Extended Parental Benefits – Benefits can be received for up to 69 weeks, 8 more weeks added
Example of Maternity and Standard Parental Benefits
Vanessa recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy. For the first 15 weeks, she is taking maternity leave. After 15 weeks, she hopes to take standard parental leave with her spouse Todd. Vanessa will take 30 weeks of parental benefits while Todd will take 10.
Taxes
Maternity and parental leave benefits are taxable income. Upon payments, taxes will be automatically deducted from your pay and you will receive a T4E slip to your online Service Canada account.
