Federal
New EI parental sharing benefit
On Sept. 26, 2018, the government of Canada announced that it intends to launch a new Employment Insurance Parental Sharing Benefit on March 17, 2019. The new benefit was previously announced in the 2018 federal budget and was originally anticipated to come into effect in June 2019.
Under the current rules, one parent can receive up to 35 weeks of EI parental leave benefits, and the second parent can receive the remainder of the 35 weeks (which may be extended to 61 weeks at a lower rate). As such, if a couple decided that one parent would take the full 35 weeks of parental leave, there are no weeks available to the second parent.
Under the new EI Parental Sharing Benefit, the second parent may receive up to an additional five weeks of benefits, for a total of 40 weeks of shared EI standard parental leave benefits between the two parents. The additional five weeks can only be taken by a second parent. Notably, eight additional weeks are available for those who choose the extended parental leave benefits option.
Parents with children born or placed for adoption on or after March 17, 2019, will be eligible for the new benefit.
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia expands leave periods to care for critically ill
On Oct. 11, 2018, Nova Scotia amended its labour standards legislation to provide for increased pregnancy and parental leave periods. It also introduced a new form of leave for the care of critically ill adults and expanded leave for the care of a critically ill child. These amendments are in line with recent amendments to federal EI benefits.
Specifically, Nova Scotia has:
- decreased the maximum period of pregnancy leave from 17 weeks to 16 weeks, to accommodate the decrease in waiting period for EI benefits to one week;
- increased the maximum period of parental leave from 52 weeks to 77 weeks;
- increased the maximum period of combined pregnancy/parental leave from 52 weeks to 77 weeks;
- created a new 16 week-critically ill adult care leave; and
- expanded the number of family members who can take a critically ill child care leave.
These changes came into effect on Oct. 11, 2018.
New Brunswick
New Brunswick introduces a new domestic violence leave
Effective Sept. 1, 2018, New Brunswick has introduced leave for employees who experience domestic, intimate partner or sexual violence. This new form of leave is also available for employees with a child that experiences domestic violence.
The new regulations provide the following two separate types of domestic violence leave, both of which may be taken by an eligible employee in any year:
- up to 10 days to be used intermittently or continuously; and/or
- up to 16 weeks to be used in one continuous period, of which the first 5 days would be paid.
An employee must be employed for more than 90 days to be eligible for a domestic violence leave. In addition, an employee may be granted a domestic violence leave only for certain specified purposes
With the introduction of the new regulations, New Brunswick joins five other provinces that also provide domestic violence leave for employees: Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Nova Scotia.
Tracy Solhi and Andrew Zur are with Morneau Shepell Ltd.