In Canada, you can get two added benefits under employment insurance – Parental benefits and Maternity benefits. The benefits eligibility criteria, application process, and all such important information are discussed here.
The employment insurance maternity benefit id for mothers who biologically are mothering the child. This includes surrogate mothers as well because they won’t be able to work during pregnancy or just after the delivery. Maternity benefits under this scheme are available for a maximum of 15 weeks. 12 weeks prior to the date of birth and 17 weeks after the date of birth are the extreme end of tenure to get the benefits.
Just like the calculation goes in employment insurance, here also, the amount the mother is entitled to get after deduction of taxes is 55% of the weekly earning one was supposed to get if she worked.
Parental Benefit for Employment Insurance Available to Parents out of their Job
The parental benefit is available to all those parents who are out of their job to care for a newly born baby or newly adopted baby. And parental benefits come under two categories. There is the standard benefit and the extended benefit which are explained below.
Standard parental benefit available in Employment Insurance
Standard parental benefits are available one week after the birth of the newborn or just a month after the adoption of the baby. The benefit can be claimed for up to 35 weeks, and this claim must be put within 52 weeks of the birth date or adoption date. The amount of claim can be maximum 55% of what one parent may get paid from the job in a week. Both the parents may share and use this parental benefit of up to 35 weeks.
Extended parental benefit
The extended benefit is available for up to 61 weeks from after one week of the date of birth or date of adoption. This benefit can be claimed within 78 week time after the week the child was adopted or born. In this case, the amount paid is 33% of what the parent would have earned in a week from the insured earning job. Extended parental benefits are available for parents who have their child born or adopted on or after the 3rd ofDec’2017.
Check your eligibility for getting maternal and parental benefits
Either of the parents or both the parents may apply for the parental benefit, but they will then have to share the benefit. 35 weeks of parental benefits and 61 weeks of extended benefits are issued in general.
The basic eligibility criteria for getting employment insurance maternal and parental benefits are as follows:
- You are doing an insured job.
- You already fulfill the basic criteria to get maternity or parental benefits.
- The earnings per week have got lowered by 40% or more.
- Already you have got accumulated a minimum of 600 insured employment hours during the time period you had to qualify.
The conditions are explained in detail below.
What does being insurable employed means for Employment Insurance in Canada?
In insurable employment, your salary per month comes to you after your employer deducts the premium for the employment insurance from this. This means you pay the employment insurance premium each month out of your salary till a maximum amount is reached.
What is the meaning of fulfilling basic criteria for Employment Insurance?
To fulfill the maternal and parental benefits basic criteria, the biological mother has to produce proof of her pregnancy and baby’s birth while the parents adopting a child will have to produce proof of adoption. Altogether the parent must provide proof of legally owning the baby by either biological birth or adoption. The parental benefits can also be claimed if the child is not legally adopted by placed to the parents by a certified authority in that case proofs of the child placement and retention at your end by the recognized authority must be presented.
How you are entitled to get the claim on the reduction of your wages by 40%?
If you cannot work due to pregnancy or after weakness from giving childbirth, or due to being very busy for looking after the child, then you may not be able to deliver much for your employer. In that case, your earnings may get lowered by more than 40%, and then also you may claim for the maternal or parental benefits.
How you accumulate 600 hours of insurable employment to get Employment Insurance Benefit in Canada
If you have worked for your current employer or for the current and previous employer cumulatively, for more than 52 weeks then you collect wages to qualify for this criteria.
How to start applying for the benefits of Employment Insurance?
Before you fill in the form online for applying for the maternal and parental benefits under employment insurance, you need to keep many details handy. They are as follows:
- Social insurance number of yours
- Your mother’s maiden name
- You complete mailing address and residence address
- Total information of your bank account where you want the money to be sent
- Date of birth or date of adoption of the baby
- Information of your current and old employers with a full record of the date of employment, duration of employment, the reason for leaving job etc.
Apply on time
Apply for your maternal or parental benefits with details mentioned above on time. Do not delay and apply as soon as possible to get the claim faster. While applying you will have to clearly mention if you are applying for the standard benefit or extended benefit.