Maternity leave
 

I have been searching on Wiki and the goverment website but cannot find the exact answer or dont understand so thought would ask you guys - no nasty comments please saying that I havent researched or unnecessary comments such as 'I dont know' needed please or thread will be deleted:-

so I move to canada, get job, then want kids - how long do I have to work before I am entitled to maternity leave / pay and what are the benefits on offer? Do I need to wait until I get Citizenship also?:fingerscrossed:

Re: Maternity leave
 

This may help ;)

Or easier still, maybe this one

Re: Maternity leave
 

so work at least 600 hours over 52 weeks first and doesnt matter about citizenship as will have PR. My husband works on IT so he could probably get a better understanding than me but dont want to give him false hope that I want a child just yet!! Thanks ;0)

Re: Maternity leave
 

EI payments are- I think- 55% of your earnings averaged over the previous 6/12. There is a maximum amount too but I don't know what that is. The women I have worked with who were pregnant worked up until the week of delivery. One worked the Friday and gave birth on the Saturday. This was to get the maximum time off after the birth

Re: Maternity leave
 

as long as there is some benefit I dont mind. Hoping to give up work after or my husband can and stay at home. We can afford a house without mortgage so as long as one of us is earning to cover bills etc then should be ok. They are pretty good to pregnant women and mothers in the UK!

Re: Maternity leave
 

The benefits are for up to 50 weeks now, so combined with the two week waiting period it is a year off. As long as you qualify of course.

Re: Maternity leave
 

not sure having a baby classes as a year off but I know what you mean :p

Re: Maternity leave
 

Why not? You're getting paid to stay at home at the tax payers expense.

Regrettably we live in a benefit entitlement society. For the life of me I cannot see why somone would expect to be paid by the tax payer to stay at home for a year after having a child.

Re: Maternity leave
 

To help people be able to afford to have children so that those children will one day pay into the economy via taxation etc.

Re: Maternity leave
 

Not sure one year on the back of the taxpayer would help much in affording to have kids. Personally, putting the money into educating future generations seems a better investment for the taxpayer than paying their parents to stay at home for a year.

Asking what benefits are available before even moving to a country and the least amount of time required to contribute to get benefits is sure to rile many a taxpayer.

Re: Maternity leave
 

Very true on the checking out the benefits aspect and I agree completely on funding education better.

Maternity benefits must work in encouraging people to have kids, so many countries have them, so even have cash payments on production of a sprog.

Re: Maternity leave
 

Qualification for maternity leave is determined by number of hours worked in the year prior to claiming. This varies by province.

The amount you are entitled to is 55% of a maximum of approx $60k per year salary, so a maximum of about $408 per week after tax (yes you are taxed on this). Anything you usually earn above that does not count.
Everyone is entitled to universal childcare of $100 per child per month up until your child turns 6 and yes, you are taxed on this also when you file your taxes. There are various other childcare allowances for low income families as well as top-ups for education savings plans. Childcare is also tex deductable.

Company benefits vary widely - I got 6 weeks pay classed as short term disability but had to apply after I could prove I had 6 weeks worth of receipts from EI deposits, so had to wait 8-9 weeks before I was paid this amount. Government companies tend to get much more, usually one year paid, I know of a couple of oil & gas companies that get paid up to one year but stipulations are you have to have been there x number of months and come back to work for a certain amount of time (usually minimum of one year) otherwise you pay it back.

I didn't have a baby to get the $408 a week but yes it really helped as I am the primary income earner in our household. I was still only able to take 7 months off (husband took remaining 5 months!) I don't feel guilty about getting this as I pay significant amounts of tax and EI. It is the only time I have ever clamined anything in my entire life in either country. I am now back at work, back paying EI and all the other nice taxes.

Re: Maternity leave
 

sorry to start the debate. I am unsubscribing from this thread due to nasty comments (again!!) and thinking of leaving the site. Wheres all the nice people gone!!:thumbdown:

Re: Maternity leave
 

Nasty comments? There were some opinions that evidently didn't match your own, but they weren't nasty.

I don't think it's a particularly unreasonable stance to take that if you choose to have kids, you should have the means to support them without needing state assistance unless untoward circumstances dictate otherwise.

Re: Maternity leave
 

Yep as RICH says, the comments didn't appear to be nasty so hopefully you'll not leave on this premise.

I guess in a similar way that a Nigerian (pulled randomly as an example) asks, before moving to the UK, how long she will need to work before being able to claim benefits around having a child, would potentially cause a few frowns and questions.

Hopefully you have the information you needed (as shown in a simple 5 second search).