Immigrating to Canada may qualify you for maternity and parental benefits if you are pregnant, have just adopted a child, or are caring for a newborn and cannot work. Maternity benefits are only available to biological mothers for a maximum of fifteen weeks, during a period surrounding the birth of the child. Parental benefits are available to biological or adoptive parents for a maximum of ten weeks. Biological mothers can apply for both maternity and parental benefits simultaneously.
Maternity Benefits
Pregnant mothers can start receiving maternity benefits as early as eight weeks before their due date, and applicants must also go through a two-week waiting period before they can start receiving benefits. Therefore, pregnant mothers can take maternity leave up to ten weeks before their due date and then immediately apply for maternity benefits from the Employment Insurance office of the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
In Canada, maternity benefits can be received for a maximum of fifteen weeks, but payments will stop seventeen weeks after the baby is born. If the baby needs to be hospitalized due to health issues, this seventeen-week period can be extended until the baby is discharged and can be cared for at home, but cannot exceed fifty-two weeks after the baby’s birth. In any case, maternity benefits can only be received for a maximum of fifteen weeks.
Parental Benefits
Biological or adoptive parents can receive parental benefits for up to ten weeks to allow them to stay home to care for a newborn or adopted child. If the child has health issues and requires special care, parental benefits can be extended to fifteen weeks. This benefit can be claimed by either the mother or father, or shared between both parents. If both parents are claiming parental benefits, each must undergo a two-week waiting period without benefits. If the mother has already completed the two-week waiting period while receiving maternity benefits, she will not need to fulfill another two-week waiting period when claiming parental benefits.
Parental benefits can be claimed starting from the day of the baby’s birth or the day the adopted child comes home, and the ten weeks of benefits cannot extend beyond fifty-two weeks after their birth or return home.
Sickness Benefits
Sickness benefits assist employees who are unable to work due to illness, injury, or quarantine, addressing their financial difficulties. Sickness benefits can be received for a maximum of fifteen weeks, but you must have worked at least seven hundred hours in the past fifty-two weeks or since your last claim for Employment Insurance. You can receive sickness benefits, maternity benefits, and parental benefits within the same benefit period, but the total cannot exceed thirty weeks. To apply for sickness benefits, you must provide a doctor’s note confirming your illness and the required recovery time.
Application Procedures for Maternity, Parental, and Sickness Benefits
You can apply at the Employment Insurance office of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada in your area. Regional offices are divided by the first three characters of the postal code. You must first call or visit the office to make an appointment, as most Employment Insurance offices now use computer input for applications. If you cannot speak English, you should bring someone who can translate for you. On the day of your application, you should bring the following documents:
Social Insurance Card
Record of Employment issued by your employer. If you have worked for more than one company in the past fifty-two weeks, you must present all records. If you are an adoptive parent applying for parental benefits, you must provide the adoption certificate. If applying for sickness benefits, you must provide a doctor’s note confirming your inability to work. Biological mothers can apply for parental benefits at the same time as maternity benefits.
How Long You Must Work to Qualify for Maternity, Parental, and Sickness Benefits
Regardless of whether your work is full-time, part-time, seasonal, or temporary, as long as you have contributed to Employment Insurance, you can add up your working hours in the fifty-two weeks prior to applying for benefits or since your last claim for unemployment benefits. If you reach seven hundred hours or more, you qualify for maternity, parental, or sickness benefits. However, if you are sick while receiving regular unemployment benefits and need to switch to sickness benefits, you may qualify even if you have worked less than seven hundred hours.
Benefit Amounts
The basic benefit amount is fifty-five percent of your average income. The maximum weekly amount is $413. However, if you are a low-income individual (i.e., earning less than $25,921 annually), have dependents, and receive the Canada Child Tax Benefit, the benefit rate you can receive will exceed fifty-five percent.
When calculating average income, there are two methods: if you have worked for the past twenty-six weeks, the average wage is calculated by adding up the income earned over the past twenty-six weeks and dividing it by twenty-six. If you have only worked a few weeks in the past twenty-six weeks, the average wage is calculated by dividing the total income earned over the twenty-six weeks by a specific minimum divisor, which is determined based on different levels of unemployment rates. For example, if the unemployment rate in your area is between 8.1% and 9%, the divisor is 19.
If you have only worked seventeen weeks in the past twenty-six weeks, the average wage calculation will divide the total income earned over the past twenty-six weeks by this divisor of 19, rather than by seventeen weeks. Therefore, when calculating your average wage over the past twenty-six weeks, the actual number of weeks you worked and the minimum divisor will be considered, dividing your total income by the highest number. If you have any work income while receiving maternity, parental, or sickness benefits, your earnings will be fully deducted. Additionally, income from workers' compensation, company-sponsored disability insurance payouts, and insurance compensation for lost wages due to accidental injury will also affect your benefit amount.
If your maternity, parental, or sickness benefits have been exhausted, but you are laid off by your original employer and cannot return to work, you can apply for regular unemployment benefits at the Employment Insurance office to extend the period during which you can receive benefits. Whether you can extend the period or for how many weeks will depend on how many hours you worked in the past year and the unemployment rate in your area.