New Employment Insurance Parental Leave Benefits Effective March 17, 2019

February 19, 2019, by HR à la carte | Work Environment and Policies

Parents who are expecting a child on or after March 17, 2019 can expect new expanded parental leave benefits through Employment Insurance (EI).  These new expanded benefits only kick in if the parental leave is shared between two parents.  How does it work exactly? 

If only one parent decides to take parental leave, they can still expect to receive EI benefits for a maximum of 35 weeks.

If both parents decide to take parental leave, an additional 5 weeks* of parental leave benefits are available to them as follows:

• One parent can take 35 weeks and the second parent can take the 5 weeks
• Both parents can split the 40 weeks in whatever combination works for them, e.g. 20 weeks each, 15 weeks for one and 25 for the other, etc.

*If parents have decided to take the extended parental leave option, which is extending parental leave to 61 weeks instead of 35 but with the same overall EI benefits (meaning smaller weekly cheques from EI), then they can access an additional 8 weeks of parental leave benefits at the smaller weekly EI payment.

It can be confusing to decide which option to choose.  This resource from Sunlife helps walk you through all the options and their pros and cons.

Other Items of Interest:

The Do's and Don'ts of Managing Employees Pre- and Post-Maternity Leave

Does My Employee Accrue Vacation While on Maternity Leave?