5 Maternity Leave Surprises

By Karan Smith

1. What do you mean I don’t qualify?
Paid baby leave is basically an Employment Insurance (EI) gig, so you have to qualify before you get a cent. You need to have worked at least 600 insured hours in the last 12 months (or since your last mat leave or unemployment claim). Generally, mothers can take 17 weeks of maternity leave, and either parent can take 37 weeks of parental leave. If you’re self-employed, you don’t qualify for benefits, although (fingers crossed) the federal government might change that.

2. All babymoons are not created equal
Provincial law dictates how much time off your employer has to grant you, and this varies depending on which province you live in. EI bene-fits are federal except in Quebec and they don’t always match up with leave. In some provinces and territories, adoptive parents qualify for only 37 weeks of parental leave, but in others, such as PEI and Quebec, adoptive parents are eligible for 52 weeks.

3. Your job is only sort of protected
You can’t be laid off simply because you’re home changing diapers. Nor can your boss reassign your duties and call it a termination.But being on maternity or parental leave doesn’t protect you from pink slips prompted by the downturn. If you suspect your name made the chopping list because you took time off to care for your child, get some legal advice, says Christine Thomlinson, an employment lawyer in Toronto.

What if your position disappears while you’re away? Workplace law says you can return to a comparable position, with similar wages and benefits. What’s an equivalent job? That depends on your line of work, says Leonard Polsky, a Calgary employment lawyer. But employers have to make a “reasonable effort” to accommodate you.

4. Pink slips now can wreck your mat leave plans in the future
So what happens to your EI-funded maternity leave if you lose your job? You can continue the benefits you’ve qualified for, but you’ll be out of luck, employment insurance-wise, later if you don’t have a chance to log those qualifying hours before your next baby comes along.

5. Moonlighting while you’re off isn’t always a great idea
It could mean a cessation of benefits while the government figures out your claim, not to mention a lot of headaches. The good news is that in a pilot project, the federal government increased the amount you can earn while on parental leave — up to $75 a week or 40 percent of weekly earnings — without benefits being reduced. If you work during the initial 17-week mat leave, however, any income is deducted dollar for dollar.

Did you know?
Employment Insurance (EI) pays 55 percent of your salary, but that maxes out at around $22,000 a year. And you have to pay taxes on that.
• If you don’t file your EI paperwork within a month of leaving work, you may have a little less cash for diaper runs. Claims are supposed to be rolled out within 28 days, but complaints have surfaced about much longer wait times as the federal government struggles to deal with the recession-sparked volume.
• Don’t use vacation days just before your baby is born. Vacation paid out during the two-week EI waiting period is deducted as earnings from your mat leave income.