Ontario Canada Maternity leave

leela20999

Hello fellow Bumpies

This question is more directed at Ontario Canada ladies as i know maternity leave is different everywhere.
My question is: When exactly are you able to go off work on leave? We get two types of leaves, 17 weeks and 35 weeks and i know the 17 week one is what you do first and you don't get EI for the first 2 weeks. I read on the Service Canada website you can go off 17 weeks before, BUT i don't see anything about if you need a doctors note to go off that early. I have heard yes you do and no you don't. Yes i could all Service Canada, but that is difficult since its usually an hour wait and they are only open from 8:30 to 4:30 Monday to Friday and guess what... I work those hours and do not get any breaks or piece of time for myself. 
If any one knows the answer to this or has a friend that might, i would really appreciate the help. 

Thanks for your time in reading this, i appreciate your help!

jennyleigh16

I'm in Ontario and I researched this the other day. It's my understanding that you can take the 17 weeks starting anytime within 17 weeks of your due date. It's considered pregnancy leave and I don't think you need a Dr note, it's at your discretion. Once the baby is born you can then take parental leave, which is the 35 weeks. You can take pregnancy leave before the baby is born or wait and take pregnancy and parental leave as one block after the baby is born. That's what I'm doing because I want to maximize the amount of paid leave I'll have once the baby is here. I also looked at my employer's collective agreement and their procedure for mat leave, so that's worth looking into. I get not wanting to call Service Ontario but you should check out the Employment Standards Act.  https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 Try that link for more info. It's really confusing trying to figure it all out and I'll definitely be putting a call in to someone to clarify, but here's a place to start. Hope it helps! 

Weville

I was going to say what @jennyleigh16 covered. When I was looking into the only thing that surprised me a little is I thought EI covered 55% of my wage I did not realize there was a max. Thankfully my employer has a top up program for the first three months. 

Puddles03

Yes the max sucks, and you cannot take over 52 weeks total. maternity leave is birth mothers only but the parental leave can include fathers and adoptive parents. This is all over Canada not just Ontario.

Weville

At least we get to take that time off. I'm planning on starting my mat leave basically at my due date but taking a big chunk of my owed vacation time in June leading up to it 

jennyleigh16

@Weville I'm doing the same thing. I have 4 weeks of vacation owed to me so I plan on taking a couple weeks at the end of June off anyway. 

leela20999

Well i had my good old mom call for me to Service Canada since she is off work. She talked to them and they said that it actually is 8 weeks before you can go off, not 17 as it says online. You can go off 17 only with a doctors note. To those who are going to take off 17 weeks to 9 weeks before, i would call to make sure you can, as they are saying nope..you can't without a note from doc, or midwife. 
I understand why most people work closer to when baby is due but i don't think I am coming back to my work to work. 
Thanks for taking the time to answer!

jennyleigh16

Try this site too. https://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/ei/maternity_parental/index.page @Weville is right, there is a max but there's a calculation there somewhere if you take the time to figure it out that gives you a decent idea of what the amount you'd get is. My question is whether you still pay into EI (and CPP and the like) while you're collecting EI, because 55% is pretty close to my take home if I'm not paying into EI, CPP, benefits (I can choose to put them on hold while I'm on mat leave, and my SO's covers both of us), OMERS and all the rest.   

silvers626

jennyleigh16 said:

Try this site too. https://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/ei/maternity_parental/index.page @Weville is right, there is a max but there's a calculation there somewhere if you take the time to figure it out that gives you a decent idea of what the amount you'd get is. My question is whether you still pay into EI (and CPP and the like) while you're collecting EI, because 55% is pretty close to my take home if I'm not paying into EI, CPP, benefits (I can choose to put them on hold while I'm on mat leave, and my SO's covers both of us), OMERS and all the rest.   

You do still have to pay all the federal taxes on EI income including EI and CPP. Service Canada automatically deducts a minimum amount from the gross amount you will be paid every two weeks. Fair warning: the minimum they deduct is not enough to cover the total amount of taxes owed on that income so if you don't have any way of writing that off (RRSP contributions, health expenses, or other tax credits) or you don't ask them to take additional taxes off then you will owe money come tax time next year. And the year after that too, since we will all be taking leave sometime right around the middle of 2016. 

Puddles03

@silvers626 absolutely you will owe taxes even though they take off some at time of payment and if you are working this year leading up to being off or next year after you finish mat leave you will also owe provincial taxes. (PS the total amount/month is only some thing like 2000$) not even comparable to what most people make. So unless you can live on less as a family; saving now or going back to work sooner are your realities.

michelle_shelle

Lurking from Aug 16 (Dr flips flops with EDD of July 31 & Aug 2)
For those ladies thinking of using their company top off, be very careful. As an accountant, I have seen many first time moms getting dinged on their taxes for this since the amount of taxes and other deductibles are much lower than the norm and you may end up paying instead of receiving a tax refund. Just a friendly FYI.

stillcozy

This thread makes me cry that I don't
live in Canada im in Minnesota can I be grandfathered in?! 

Weville

@Lindsayleigh1989 I think so. When I was in San Francisco I got asked if I was from Canada or Minnesota. I didn't realize I had an accent (compared to California) or that Canadians and folks from Minnesota apparently talk the same 

born2run911

I am about to file my taxes for 2015 and was on Mat leave until June 2015. I had to pay quite a bit in last year, and am anticipating the same this year ugh.

Just so you know if anyone ends up going off on sick leave with a doctors note it starts your maternity leave right away and forfeits the two week wait period which actually takes two weeks off of the end of your leave and you may have to return to work two weeks earlier than planned (this happened to me last Mat leave).