Maternity leave in Alberta

The nursery has been decorated, you are nesting, done work and it's time to figure out your Maternity EI benefits. However, the process of applying for Maternity EI benefits in Alberta may be overwhelming. Hopefully after reading this post you will have a pretty good idea of how and where to go - and will have successfully applied for your EI benefits. 

In Alberta you are entitled to 52 weeks off of work for Maternity leave from your place of employment.  **Some situations are different and could depend on if a position is a contract or if there are different agreements made.**

If you are not sure what your rights are- or if you feel that your rights are being infringed upon you can always call labor standards (anonymously if need be) @ 1.877.427.3731

Do you Qualify:

In order to qualify for Maternity benefits you must have worked at least 600 hours of employment and have paid into EI benefits. You are eligible to apply and take your Maternity leave starting on your 8^th week before your due date.   

Maternity benefits are the first 15 weeks of your year off, the following weeks are technically refereed to as Parental leave and you or your partner is eligible to take the Parental leave.

Putting in an Application:

On your last day of work is technically when you should apply for Maternity benefits. Applying too early could effect your weeks that you are entitled to.

• If you are receiving the full Maternity and Parental benefits you will only need to apply once which is at the beginning.
• If your partner is applying for parental leave they will have to apply for it
• Parental leave can be the entire 35 weeks or it can be taken for less time, to a minimum of 2 weeks.

You can apply for your Maternity benefits here

Your work will either give you a Record of Employment (ROE) or if you are lucky they will submit your ROE on your behalf. This will be on your last day before going on leave (ideally)  

If you have to submit the ROE yourself you will need to go to a Service Canada Branch to drop it off or send it via mail.

You can find the location closest to you here

Maternity benefits payments:

Your benefits are only paid out for 50 of your 52 weeks that you have off. That means you will not receive your benefits right away, as there is a 2-week waiting period. You however should have received your login information to log onto the Service Canada website to check and see how the processing of your Maternity benefits are proceeding. 

**If it has been over 2 weeks, call and inquire. With my second child it took a month for my benefits to be deposited into my account, and it was due to some miniscule piece of information that was quickly entered within seconds. **

(The great thing is that my money was deposited into my account within 24hours)

If you have questions you can call this number - 1.800.206.7218

**HINT** Try calling first thing in the morning when they open. So many people call this number that they generally don’t even have enough room for people to wait on hold.

You will receive 55% of your of insurable earnings up to a maximum of $514 per week.

MAKE SURE THEY ARE TAKING TAXES OFF OF YOUR EI BENEFITS!!!

I unfortunately didn’t catch this during my first Maternity leave and I ended up owing in taxes, which is a big deal when you are only receiving 55% of your regular wage.

Hopefully this post has been informative and has helped you along the process of applying for your benefits.  If this post was helpful to you, please leave a comment. Thanks for reading and congrats to you :)

Until next time
~Christine~

*The information that is included in this post has been taken from the Service Canada webite and also  taken from my personal experiences. If there is anything that I have missed please let me know and it will be added*