• What conditions must an employee meet before they can take pregnancy leave?
   
• What conditions must an employee meet before they can take parental leave?
   
• How much time off is an employee entitled to receive when they have a baby?
   
• Does an employee get paid while they are on pregnancy and/or parental leave?
   
• Is it legal to fire an employee because she is pregnant?

What conditions must an employee meet before they can take pregnancy leave?

An employee must work for an employer for 12 consecutive months before she is entitled to pregnancy leave. She must provide a medical certificate if the employer requests one. She must give the employer 4 weeks written notice. If an employee has not worked for 12 consecutive months before she has to begin her pregnancy leave, she is still entitled to sufficient time off work to allow her to meet her physical needs connected with the birth, not necessarily the 17 weeks she would be entitled to under pregnancy leave.

There are allowances under the Act for shortening or extending the leave.

Reference: Sections 30, 31 and Pregnancy and Parental Leave Regulations
Labour Standards Act

What conditions must an employee meet before they can take parental leave?

An employee must work for an employer for 12 consecutive months before they are entitled to parental leave. They must give the employer 4 weeks written notice and remain at home to care for the newborn or the child who has been recently adopted. Parental leave must be taken within the first year of the baby’s life or within a year of the adopted child arriving at the employee’s home.

Where an employee takes parental leave in addition to pregnancy leave, the employee must start their parental leave immediately after the pregnancy leave, unless the employer and employee agree otherwise.

There are allowances under the Act for shortening and extending the leave.

Employees are not entitled to any parental leave if they do not have their year of employment in.

Reference: Sections 30, 34 and Pregnancy and Parental Leave Regulations
Labour Standards Act

How much time off is an employee entitled to receive when they have a baby?

If the employee meets all conditions, pregnancy leave is 17 weeks and parental leave is 37 weeks. The maximum combined total not to exceed 52 weeks.

Reference: Sections 31 and 34
Labour Standards Act

Does an employee get paid while they are on pregnancy and/or parental leave?

No. All wages stop. When the employee resumes employment the employer must reinstate that employee in the same or comparable position at not less than the wages, benefits and seniority that had accrued to the employee on the day the leave began and give all raises the employee would have received if the leave had not been taken.

Reference: Section 36
Labour Standards Act

Is it legal to fire an employee because she is pregnant?

No. The employer must not terminate the employment of an employee because she has requested, is on or has taken pregnancy and/or parental leave. If that happens, the onus is on the employer to prove the pregnancy and parental leave had nothing to do with the termination.

Reference: Sections 38 and 39
Labour Standards Act