Canada’s federal government recently launched an employment insurance (EI) parental sharing benefit, which provides additional weeks of benefits to families when the parents of a newborn or newly adopted child share parental benefits. The changes, announced in the 2018 budget, are aimed at encouraging the second parent to take leave and support equal partnership in parenting. The benefit is available to parents who make a claim for children born or placed for adoption on or after 17 Mar 2019.
Key aspects of the new benefit include the following:
─ Five weeks of benefits if electing the standard option
─ Eight weeks of benefits if electing the extended option
The government has said that corresponding changes to the Canada Labour Code will be made to ensure that employees working in the federally regulated private sector have job protection while receiving the parental sharing benefit.
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