Cdn mamas: mat leave notice

Lild09 · March 2014

Hey fellow cdn mamas

I find the whole mat leave process a bit overwhelming.

For your work are you writing up a leave letter? I'm hitting 34 w on Wednesday and am planning to go off at 36 w. My plan was to write a formal letter informing them that I will be going off as of whatever date. Just checking if this is what you've done/been told to do?

Also for the actual leave from what I understand...you don't start getting your EI cheques until after LO is born, right? This is what I want..we have planned that my time off before LO comes is unpaid and that once he's born is when your official leave starts in terms of your weeks off.

Any help would be appreciated. Service canada is a pain to get a hold of and I find their website isn't totally clear.

Thanks ladies

LittleMissSteph · March 2014

I've just told my office through an email what my last day will be (about a week before my due date). As far as I know, you can officially start your EI mat leave up to 8 weeks before your due date. My understanding is that the first two weeks are unpaid regardless of when it falls in relation to your due date and then your cheques start, even if LO isn't born yet.

spacepotatoes · March 2014

If you have an HR department, check with them first. They might have a form for you to fill out. My school board has a form for requesting leave and they also require a doctor's letter confirming the due date. I believe Service Canada requires that documentation as well.

Whenever you start your claim with EI, there is a two week waiting period for which you will not be paid. Sometimes, if it takes a while to process the claim, you won't start getting paid immediately after the two weeks are up. I've had delays like that happen before (with regular EI, not mat leave benefits). But they will backpay once the benefits do kick in so you won't lose out on any money.

tjkdlhb · March 2014

Service Canada is awful. It is the most confusing website ever. And when you call, depending on who you speak to you always get different answers.

I am a teacher, and in our province it is laid out for us what we have to do. We have to give notice four months before our due date. That part would totally depend on your employer, so I'd check with them. I think written notice asap would be appreciated.

From my understanding of it, you get a total of 50 weeks (15 maternity and 35 parental) There is a two week waiting period which starts the day following your last paid day (sometimes you can use paid sick leave as your two week waiting period, depending on your employment situation). You can take those 50 weeks starting at any point 8 weeks prior to your expected due date, however that means you would have to go back to work up to 8 weeks earlier at the end of your mat leave.

If your doctor deems it to be medically necessary (high risk pregnancy, etc). Then you can also apply for up to 15 weeks paid sick leave in addition to the 50 weeks. But this would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

EDIT: Just read PP's comment about the back pay. Last time it took me about 4 weeks to get paid, but I did get all of the money. It just really sucked waiting for it!

usernewname · March 2014

You usually get back pay as it takes a while for all the processing.

I gave them 2 months notice, but plan on changing that this week and leaving early (I'm hoping to get sick leave). I plan on giving them 2 weeks notice (which your supposed to do legally unless your HR/contract states otherwise).

If you don't want any money you don't apply for EI until LO is born. If you apply before it might start you off early.

Can you get a sick leave doctor's note? Then you get different EI that turns into mat leave when LO is born.

Emmagk · March 2014

For my work I had to contact our leave administrator and fax a letter from my doc stating the EDD. Leave officially starts from the EDD so I'm taking 3 weeks prior as vacation. Once LO is here I was told I'd need to fill in the forms for STD and EI.

I was actually awake for about 3 hours last night worrying about the EI forms. I find government forms confusing to begin with and service canada is terrible to deal with. If I get too confused by it all I was considering going onto the SC office here in Fredericton, it's only 10 mins walk from where I live and is not usually that busy.

Soupy84 · March 2014

You need to look at the provincial requirements as well. In Alberta, you need to give 6 weeks notice. My last day of work is April 11th and that puts me at 36 weeks.

I get confused on the Mat Leave and Mat Benefits front. From what I have interpreted, you get 35 weeks leave, which can start as early as 8 weeks before your EDD. Your Mat Benefits (paid) can be applied for 2 weeks after the baby arrives.

I hate this garbage. Why cant they just lay it all out step-by-step? Considering the number of citizens who voice this complaint, it should have been done by now. And I dont want to spend an entire day waiting to speak to someone at Service Canada. What a joke.

Lild09 · March 2014

Glad to see I'm not the only one confused. I'll take a look at ontarios notice requirements...if I can ever find them!

spacepotatoes · March 2014

Soupy84 said:

You need to look at the provincial requirements as well. In Alberta, you need to give 6 weeks notice. My last day of work is April 11th and that puts me at 36 weeks.

I get confused on the Mat Leave and Mat Benefits front. From what I have interpreted, you get 35 weeks leave, which can start as early as 8 weeks before your EDD. Your Mat Benefits (paid) can be applied for 2 weeks after the baby arrives.

I hate this garbage. Why cant they just lay it all out step-by-step? Considering the number of citizens who voice this complaint, it should have been done by now. And I dont want to spend an entire day waiting to speak to someone at Service Canada. What a joke.

There is maternity leave and there is parental leave. Maternity is 17 weeks, requires the doctor's documentation, and includes the 2 week unpaid waiting period. That's for the mom only and it's the one that can start up to 8 weeks before the EDD. Parental is 35 weeks and can be split between mom and dad. If you take maternity leave and the full parental leave, the two combined give you the full year.

I'm not sure if that clears anything up for you, but I hope it helps some. Their phone lines are a total waste of time.

candrew05 · March 2014

What I've done is already print off the forms I will need. My work has an HR Dept that makes it all pretty clear. I am expected to provide written confirmation at least 2 weeks prior to my leave and that is simply their standard Leave of Absence form which has a section for Maternity. Then after my last pay is processed Payroll will automatically send my Record of Employment to HRDC and as everyone mentioned there is the 2 week unpaid waiting period.
Also you should look into if you get topped up, because that will require submitting your first EI stub to Payroll after you finally receive it.

usernewname · March 2014

Sometimes I try the labour board (I'm in Ontario) and I get answers there too since service canada is a nightmare

If you can go to an office and ask someone in person people have better luck but of course thy are open when everyone works.

Shell+Bell · March 2014

Funny, I never had a problem with SC. I applied for mat leave online both times. They won't process anything until they receive an ROE from your employer. I filled out the forms from HR for mat leave, and gave them a letter from my midwife saying I wouldn't work past 38 weeks. Once I got notification of how much I would receive through EI I submitted that to my employer for their top up. The second time SC was very behind and took a while to process, but they back pay so in the end it was NBD. but it sucked to wait that 6 weeks to get paid. A bit tight. My first time on EI, they barely took any taxes out, I think it was $7 per pay, and I ended up owing a few hundred come tax time. Second time they took more out, and I'll find out when I do my taxes if I owe or not. But I doubt it. But really the process wasn't too hard. It's the wait that can be hard.

Lild09 · March 2014

I guess I'm most confused bc I don't want to work past 36 weeks but I don't want to get any type of leave until I deliver....I won't be getting topped up from either of my jobs and I don't think I have barely any vacation time to even use before. Is it even possible to stop working at say 36 weeks and not take any pay until I deliver? I mean I guess I could apply after I deliver but would they look back to when I last got paid anyways? Ugh I'm off tomorrow so I'm gonna call first thing and wait forever if I can even get through....many times it says the call volume is high and hangs up on you!

spacepotatoes · March 2014

Lild09 said:

I guess I'm most confused bc I don't want to work past 36 weeks but I don't want to get any type of leave until I deliver....I won't be getting topped up from either of my jobs and I don't think I have barely any vacation time to even use before. Is it even possible to stop working at say 36 weeks and not take any pay until I deliver? I mean I guess I could apply after I deliver but would they look back to when I last got paid anyways? Ugh I'm off tomorrow so I'm gonna call first thing and wait forever if I can even get through....many times it says the call volume is high and hangs up on you!

For your employer, you can specify when your last day of work will be, and when your official leave start date will be. What happens in between is up to you and your employer. When you file your EI claim, you will give them your actual mat leave start date. Your record of employment will indicate your last paid work day but that doesn't mean your claim has to start on that date.

spacepotatoes · March 2014

When you claim regular EI benefits, they do care what your last paid work date was because the deadline for applying for benefits is based on that date. With maternity leave, it's based on your due date.

RachelCA29 · March 2014

spacepotatoes said:

Lild09 said:

I guess I'm most confused bc I don't want to work past 36 weeks but I don't want to get any type of leave until I deliver....I won't be getting topped up from either of my jobs and I don't think I have barely any vacation time to even use before. Is it even possible to stop working at say 36 weeks and not take any pay until I deliver? I mean I guess I could apply after I deliver but would they look back to when I last got paid anyways? Ugh I'm off tomorrow so I'm gonna call first thing and wait forever if I can even get through....many times it says the call volume is high and hangs up on you!

For your employer, you can specify when your last day of work will be, and when your official leave start date will be. What happens in between is up to you and your employer. When you file your EI claim, you will give them your actual mat leave start date. Your record of employment will indicate your last paid work day but that doesn't mean your claim has to start on that date.

All of this! You can't even fill out the EI forms online until at least your official "last day of work". I tried to do it early and the online form won't let you go past the page with your dates (last day of employment, etc.) if it is not at least today's date. I believe that on the SC website you can apply for both maternity and parental leave at the same time, but I never got far enough in the application to get to the due date information part.

So you apply for EI on your last official day of work, and then SC holds it waiting for the Record of Employment to be received from your employer. That is what the wait is, it would take at last 2 weeks for them to get it, but depending on your employer it could take longer.(I've heard my work is notorious for "forgetting" to submit the ROE and people waiting TWO months for their benefits to start.)

In terms of when you stop working and when your benefits start, my last day at my job is April 25th, I am taking a week of vacation so it will be paid. Then my last "official" day of work, that wen on the Leave of Absence form to my employer is May 2nd. That way I'm off at 37 weeks, but I'm not using government maternity time until 10 days before my due date.

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