Canada Maternity Leave: A Detailed Guide for Employers

Paid maternity leave varies by country, and global employers need to comply with different laws in each region. In Canada, income support through a federally funded insurance program works alongside province-specific job-protected leave, making compliance all the more complicated.

If you’re currently managing employees or planning to hire in Canada, understanding the maternity and parental leave system is crucial. From running payroll and managing Employment Insurance (EI) benefits to tracking and applying federal and provincial regulations, navigating Canada’s leave requirements can feel like a burden, especially for HR teams managing an international workforce.

Here’s what you need to know about paid maternity leave in Canada, including how EI works, your obligations as an employer, and how regulations vary across provinces.

What are EI maternity and parental benefits in Canada?

“Mat EI” is the commonly used term for EI maternity and parental benefits in Canada. It’s the federal program that functions as temporary income replacement during pregnancy and following the birth or adoption of a child.

The program is funded through payroll contributions. Employees contribute a percentage of their insurable earnings via payroll deductions each pay period. On their part, employers contribute at 1.4 times the employee rate.

The employee contribution rate is updated annually. As of January 2026, the EI rate for employee contributions is 1.63%, with a maximum yearly contribution of $1,123.07, which means the employer would be responsible for paying a maximum annual premium of $1,572.30. These rates apply outside Québec, but Québec maintains its own benefit system—more on that later.

Federal EI benefits cover two separate categories: maternity benefits and parental benefits. Maternity benefits in Canada are only available to the birth parent, while both parents can qualify for parental benefits. Each category has different rules regarding payment structures and leave durations.

Maternity and parental benefits in Canada: How they work

To maintain compliance with Canadian employment law, employers need to understand the obligations of maternity leave versus parental leave.

Maternity benefits

In Canada, EI maternity benefits are available only to the person who is pregnant or has recently given birth. Eligible claimants can receive 55% of their average insurable weekly earnings, up to the applicable maximum.

Employees are eligible to claim these benefits as early as 12 weeks prior to the due date, but only once they stop working or take a substantial reduction in their hours. The maximum EI maternity benefit is currently $729 per week, and this threshold is updated annually.

Those who work in federally regulated jobs are eligible for certain types of paid and unpaid leave in addition to general maternity EI. For example, their first three days of leave related to pregnancy loss are paid. (Other employees may also receive paid leave following a loss if they qualify for sickness benefits.)

Parental benefits

In Canada, parental leave benefits cover birth parents and other eligible parents, as well as their partners. One parent can claim the benefits or two parents can share them together. Any employed parent can claim parental benefits, including adoptive parents, but they need to choose between two distinct benefit options: standard or extended.

Standard parental benefits provide 55% of average insurable weekly earnings for up to 35 weeks for one parent, or up to 40 weeks when shared between parents. Claimants can split the weeks, but one parent can’t take more than 35 weeks. The weekly maximum is $729.

Extended parental benefits provide 33% of average insurable weekly earnings for up to 61 weeks for one parent, or up to 69 weeks when shared. Parents can receive a weekly maximum of $437.

Parents who give birth can combine maternity and parental leave to take up to 50 weeks off under the standard option or 76 weeks under the extended option. Outside Québec, there’s no dedicated paternity leave program, so non-birth parents take leave and benefits under the broader parental EI framework.

Who qualifies for EI maternity and parental benefits?

Aside from welcoming a child and having a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN), employees need to satisfy three requirements to receive EI maternity and parental benefits:

• Maintain insurable employment. The employee needs to work in a position covered under Canada’s EI system. This includes most workers, with some exceptions such as self-employed individuals and family-related work arrangements.
• Accumulate at least 600 insured hours. The employee needs a minimum of 600 insured hours in the 52 weeks before the claim, or since the start of the last claim, whichever is shorter.
• Experience a reduction in weekly earnings. The employee must have at least a 40% reduction in their income for at least a week as a result of maternity or parental leave.

Job protection by Canadian province: What employers should know

With the exception of Québec, Canada’s maternity leave policy covers federal EI benefits and provincial job-protected leave rights. Canada defines entitlements and eligibility requirements at the federal level, but provinces have different durations of job-protected leave and employer obligations.

Employers need to comply with applicable employment standards legislation in each province where their employees work, while ensuring that they receive all of the federal EI benefits they’re entitled to.

How long is maternity leave in Canada?

Here’s a breakdown of the general job-protection standards in different provinces. Each guarantees unpaid leave, and the specific leave durations may vary depending on employee eligibility and future legislative updates.

Employers must comply with applicable job-protected leave requirements when an employee meets the eligibility conditions under the applicable employment standards legislation. This means you cannot terminate or penalize an employee for exercising their maternity or parental leave rights. However, an employee may be terminated during leave if the reason is completely unrelated to the leave.

How maternity and parental leave work in Québec

Québec maintains a unique maternity and parental leave system that differs from other jurisdictions.

The province’s maternity and parental leave framework operates under the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), which often requires higher income replacement rates than other provinces under the federal system. While employees aren’t entitled to dedicated paternity leave in Ontario or other major provinces, Québec provides dedicated paternity benefits as a separate QPIP benefit.

QPIP offers two plan options, basic or special. Under the basic plan, parents who gave birth receive 18 weeks, with an additional five weeks for single parents or those who gave birth to multiple children from the same pregnancy. People who terminated a pregnancy also receive benefits for 18 weeks. A parent who didn’t give birth can benefit for five weeks. In every instance, they receive 70% of their usual income.

Under the special plan, parents who gave birth or terminated a pregnancy receive 15 weeks. They benefit for 18 weeks if they gave birth to multiple children from the same pregnancy or are a single parent. Parents who didn’t give birth can receive benefits for three weeks. The benefit rate is 75% of their earnings in each scenario.

Managing Canadian leave compliance at scale with Pebl

Organizations that hire employees across Canada, contend with different maternity and parental leave policies in different provinces. Employers need to handle federal EI requirements and province-specific job protection standards all while ensuring payroll reporting and tax compliance.

Pebl’s Employer of Record is built to address the unique challenges global employers face. With 18 local employment licenses and more than 70 independent audits, Pebl helps global organizations keep up with statutory requirements in every Canadian province, from maternity leave in Ontario to workers’ compensation in Manitoba. Instead of manually tracking federal and provincial leave regulations, HR teams can rely on Pebl to automatically monitor employer obligations across borders.

With Pebl’s AI assistant, Alfie, HR leaders can get instant answers to questions on key topics in more than 50 languages. Teams can get the province-specific information they need—like leave durations and benefit continuation requirements—without consulting their legal team.

If you’re ready to simplify your compliance processes, check out Pebl’s Global HR Compliance solution and contact the team to schedule a meeting today.

FAQ

Can parental leave be split between parents?

Yes. In Canada, parents can share EI parental benefits, subject to maximum limits. One parent can receive up to 35 weeks under the standard option or 61 weeks under the extended option.

How does the Québec Parental Insurance Plan differ from the federal EI program?

QPIP in Québec provides dedicated paternity leave, rather than just general parental leave, and has its own employer and employee contribution rates. If you currently employ or are planning to hire workers in Québec, then you need to follow distinct payroll and leave obligations that differ from other provinces in Canada.