Pregnancy and Parental Leave

Paro – Pregnancy & Parent Leave link http://www.myparo.ca/pregnancy-parental-leave/

To do:

  • Give your program and Post Graduate Medical Office 4 weeks written notice of their intended timing of pregnancy and/or parental
  • Pregnant mothers no longer have to participate on On-call shifts after 27 weeks and are entitled to a modified workload  because of physical limitations
  • To qualify for EI you must have 600 insurable hours in the last 52 weeks (estimate 4 months of work, 8 hour work days)
  • Apply for benefits through Service Canada Centre with all the required documents
    • Information on EI and details on how to apply can be found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental.html
      • SIN #
      • Mother’s maiden name
      • Mailing Address
      • Financial institution name, number, branch number and account number
      • Estimated date of birth/Date of birth of newborn
      • Name of employer:  University of Ottawa
      • Dates and earnings of highest paid weeks in the last 52 weeks (PGME will automatically forward this information when you inform them you have completed the EI application)
      • A Record of Employment (ROE) letter from employer. (PGME will automatically forward this information when you inform them you have completed the EI application).
      • Note that if Service Canada has all the required information and if you qualify your payments will be issued usually within 28 days of filing your claim. It often does not take that long. Once you stop working you will not be paid and the payments are backpaid to be reflective of the date you stopped working.
  • Notify PGME Pay (613-562-5800 x 1656) to inform “on-leave and should be in receipt of top-up”
  • Notify CMPA (1-800-267-6522) if you are taking maternity leave and they will pause your coverage
    • Your clinical privileges are essentially suspended including extender licenses
    • You will need to provide start and end date of leave
  • Notify locating that you will be on leave and to disable your pager
  • Once baby is born, add child to your Manulife Plan

Table 1. Types of leave (provincial entitlement – Employment Standards Act)

Leave Type Duration
Pregnancy Leave (birth or surrogate mothers)

Can start as early as 17 weeks before due date and latest is due date

 17 weeks
Parental Leave – standard (shared per family)

  • For birth or surrogate mothers who take Pregnancy Leave as well
  • For all new parents
40 weeks *new additional 5 weeks for babies born/adopted after March 17, 2019 
40 weeks
Parental Leave – extended (shared per family)

  • For birth or surrogate mothers who take Pregnancy Leave as well
  • For all new parents
61 weeks
63 weeks

Note: Parental leave may begin anytime within 52 weeks following the birth of your child but not prior. Once you begin pregnancy or parental leave you can not return to work then go back on leave.

Parental Leave EI (federal entitlement) shared per family

  • Standard: Maximum 40 weeks at 55% average weekly insurable earnings per family
  • Extended: Maximum 61 weeks at 33% average weekly insurable earnings per family
  • This time may be taken together, or separately but cannot collectively exceed the previously mentioned duration
  • 1-week mandatory waiting period shared per family
  • The earliest the maternity benefit payment can begin is 12 weeks before the expected due date and end as late as 17 weeks after the actual date of birth

Income top-up to EI payments

  • Maximum 27 weeks for women taking Pregnancy Leave + Parental Leave
    • Note that Pregnancy Leave EI is 17 weeks but only 15 weeks of top-up.
    • You will then receive an additional 12 weeks of top up to equal to 27 weeks top up between pregnancy and parental leave.
  • Maximum 12 weeks for stand alone parental leave
  • Top-up is provided to both residents who are PARO members in receipt of EI.
  • Equivalent to the difference between 84% regular weekly earning + resident’s weekly EI benefits + any other earnings
  • Paid directly through payroll centre. Inform the payroll centre of the type of leave you are taking indicating that you should be in receipt of the top up.

Table 2. Use your LOA wisely.

LOA Title Carry over or not
Vacation Can carry over

  • You will also accumulate Vacation days while on leave
  • You can schedule Vacation at the end of your parental leave in order to extend time with your child while receiving full weekly earnings.
Research Days Can carry over but must use before Rio Day
Professional days Use them up!
Floater Use this up!

Benefits:

Additional Resources: