What changes have been made to the parental allowance?

Several changes have been made to the parental allowance provisions in the new Collective Agreement following amendments to the Employment Insurance Act which allow for extended EI parental benefits. These changes were intended to provide greater flexibility and certainty to lawyers without significantly increasing the overall cost of parental allowance top-ups for the employer. You can find more information about changes to the Employment Insurance Act, and the impact of these changes on maternity and parental benefits here.

Under the new Collective Agreement, lawyers not residing in Québec would have a choice between:

Standard Parental Benefits:
 

  • a lawyer who has chosen standard parental leave and who has chosen to receive standard EI parental benefits will be eligible to receive 93% of their weekly rate of pay for the waiting period, less any other monies earned,
  • for each week that a lawyer receives EI parental benefits, they will be eligible for a top-up of the difference between 93% of their weekly rate of pay and their EI benefits, less any other monies earned, AND
  • where a lawyer has received either the full 35 weeks of standard EI parental benefits or has divided the full 40 weeks of standard EI parental benefits and either employee remains on parental leave without pay, the lawyer is eligible to receive a further parental allowance of 93% of their weekly rate of pay and their EI benefits, less any other monies earned, for a period of one week.

The maximum combined shared maternity and standard parental allowance payable under the New Collective Agreement will be increased from 52 weeks in the previous Collective Agreement to 57 weeks. This will address the additional 5 weeks of EI parental benefits now available for non-birthing parents.

Extended Parental Benefits:
 

  • a lawyer who has chosen extended parental leave and who has chosen to receive extended EI parental benefits will be eligible to receive 55.8% of their weekly rate of pay for the waiting period, less any other monies earned,
  • for each week that a lawyer receives EI parental benefits, they will be eligible for a top-up of the difference between 55.8% of their weekly rate of pay and their EI benefits, less any other monies earned, AND
  • where a lawyer has received either the full 61 weeks of standard EI parental benefits or has divided the full 69 weeks of standard EI parental benefits and either employee remains on parental leave without pay, the lawyer is eligible to receive a further parental allowance of 55.8% of their weekly rate of pay and their EI benefits, less any other monies earned, for a period of one week.

The maximum combined shared maternity and standard parental allowance payable would be 86 weeks. This will address the additional 8 weeks of EI parental benefits now available for non-birthing parents.

In order to be eligible for parental benefits under either the previous or the new Collective Agreement, a lawyer must:
 

  • have completed 6 months of continuous employment prior to the commencement of parental leave,
  • provide proof that they have applied for and are in receipt of parental, paternity or adoption benefits under the Employment Insurance (EI) Plan or the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), AND
  • sign an agreement with the employer.

The new Collective Agreement clarifies that a lawyer must agree to return to work within the federal public administration, as specified in Schedule I, Schedule IV, or Schedule V of the Financial Administration Act (FAA).

A lawyer must also agree that following their return to work, that they will work for period equal to the period that they were in receipt of maternity and parental allowance. In addition to the time period that a lawyer is in receipt of the standard parental allowance, the new Collective Agreement will require a lawyer who chooses the extended parental allowance option to work for a period equal to 60% of the period that they were in receipt of the allowance.
 
A lawyer who becomes pregnant would still be entitled to 16 weeks of maternity allowance at 93% of the employee's weekly rate of pay, less any other monies earned during this period in combination with either the standard or extended parental benefit options.

There is very little difference between the amount of parental benefits received by lawyers under the standard and extended options, provided that lawyers choose to take the majority of the extended leave period. The new Collective Agreement would allow members to spread their top-up over 18 months. For those who choose the extended parental benefits option, the rate of the parental allowance will be lower, but the allowance will be received over a longer period of time.

In the interim, prior to the implementation of the new Collective Agreement, we encourage members who are able to sustain a period of unpaid leave with a 33% EI parental benefit, to consider taking advantage of the option to take extended parental leave with top up to 93% for up to 35 weeks. If approved by the employer, this un-negotiated temporary solution implemented by the employer may be financially advantageous for some lawyers.

Lawyers would need to carefully review the options and choose the one that best suits their needs. We recommend that lawyers plan ahead and make this choice well in advance of their leave. Once a lawyer elects the standard or extended parental benefits and the weekly benefit top-up allowance was set, the decision could not be changed if the lawyer returned to worker earlier than originally scheduled. This is also the case for EI benefits.  

You can find a summary chart of maternity and parental leaves and allowances here. You can also find sample parental benefit calculations provided by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) here.