Canada’s EI system is ‘unfair’ for new parents, NDP and labour unions say

The Canadian Union of Public Employees estimates that as many as 3,000 workers are laid off before, during or after they take maternity leave. Labour groups and an NDP MP have written the federal employment minister to warn of ‘gender discrimination’ in the EI program as it impacts women who have taken maternity leave.

The New Democratic Party and a group of labour unions are calling on the federal government to change Canada’s employment insurance rules so that new parents, especially new mothers, are not denied regular EI benefits if they get laid off.

In a letter sent Thursday to Randy Boissonault, Canada’s employment minister, and NDP MP Daniel Blaikie, along with the Canadian Labour Congress, Unifor and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, are demanding an end to “gender discrimination” in the program.

A copy of the letter shared with Global News stated: “Under the current EI Act, special and regular benefits can be combined up to a 50-week maximum. Using qualifying hours for regular benefits reduces what you can claim in maternity and parental benefits, and vice-versa.

“This means that women who have a baby and access maternity benefits lose their protection in the event of a lay-off,” the letter to Boissonnault reads.

“Parents who access parental benefits also lose out.”

Video: Why some mothers are feeling discriminated against by their employers

The Canadian Union of Public Employees estimates that as many as 3,000 workers are laid off before, during or after they take maternity leave.

“By denying women these EI regular benefits because they’ve received EI maternity and parental benefits, these women are experiencing blatant discrimination and being forced into economically precarious situations,” said Angella MacEwan, a senior economist at the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Speaking at press conference in Ottawa Thursday, MacEwan and other labour leaders called on the federal government to remove the current 50-week restriction on combining maternity, parental and regular benefits and instead allowing workers to use their qualifying hours for both regular and parental benefits up to a maximum period of 104 weeks.

“More and more men are taking parental leave, but still, this issue disproportionately impacts women,” said NDP MP Laurel Collins, who gave birth to her second daughter last year.

“It is unfair to put new parents in a situation where they are deprived of the benefits that Canadians deserve,” she added.

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In Canada, those on maternity and parental leave get benefits of up to 55 per cent of their salary, with a maximum weekly pay of up to $668.

The birth parent is eligible for maternity leave for the first 15 weeks after the birth of a child. After that it switches to parental leave, with up to 40 weeks that can be shared between both parents.

Parents are also eligible for extended benefits up to 61 weeks for one parent and 69 weeks shared between both. In that case they get up to 33 per cent of their pay and a maximum of $401 weekly.

Regular EI benefits for those who lose their job is 55 per cent of their average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum amount. People in Canada can receive EI benefits from 14 weeks up to a maximum of 45 weeks.

Blaikie, who is NDP’s finance critic and critic for employment and workforce development, said a legislative change of extending the combined benefit period up to 104 weeks would cost the government an estimated $15 million per year, which is less than 0.01 per cent of what was paid out by EI pre-pandemic in 2019.

He and CUPE called on the Liberal government to implement this change as early as the spring budget.

“Nobody is going to notice except the new parents that don’t have to cannibalize their regular E.I. benefits in the event of a layoff to have spent time at home with their new baby,” Blaikie said.