Employment Insurance
Employment Insurance
Maternity & Parental Benefits
Employment Insurance maternity and parental benefits provide financial assistance to:
- people who are away from work because they’re pregnant or have recently given birth
- parents who are away from work to care for their newborn or newly adopted child
You could receive 55% of your earnings, up to a maximum of $668 a week.
Maternity benefits
Maternity benefits are only available to the person who is away from work because they’re pregnant or have recently given birth. They can’t be shared between parents.
The person receiving maternity benefits may also be entitled to parental benefits.
Parental benefits
Parental benefits are available to the parents of a newborn or newly adopted child.
You must choose between 2 options:
- standard parental benefits
- extended parental benefits
Your choice determines the number of weeks and the weekly amount you’ll receive.
If sharing, each parent must choose the same option and submit their own application. Parents can receive their weeks of benefits at the same time or one after another.
Although you don’t have to take weeks of parental benefits consecutively, you must take them within specific periods starting the week of your child’s date of birth or the week your child is placed with you for the purpose of adoption.
These periods are:
- standard parental: within 52 weeks (12 months)
- extended parental: within 78 weeks (18 months)
Before you apply, consider carefully whether standard or extended parental benefits are better for you. You can’t change between standard and extended parental benefit options once a week of parental benefits has been paid to you, or if a payment has been made to the other parent when benefits are shared.