Maternity Leave in Alberta: A Guide for Employers

Maternity leave provides a critical period of time for birth parents to give birth, bond with their newborns, recover from childbirth, and adjust to their new role as parents.

In Alberta, maternity leave is an unpaid, job-protected leave, and Alberta’s Employment Standards Code (ESC) provides statutory minimum requirements for employers to provide their employees.

Find out when employees are eligible, how long maternity leave lasts, and how to correctly handle the leave within your business.

Eligibility for Maternity Leave in Alberta

• Workplace must be regulated by the ESC
• Available to all pregnant employees
• At least 90 days of employment
• Employer’s discretion if less than 90 days

Maternity leave in Alberta is available to all pregnant employees (part-time, full-time, permanent, or fixed-term) as long as their workplace is covered by the ESC.

If a pregnant employee has worked for an employer for less than 90 days, the employer can still choose to grant them maternity leave, but employers aren’t obligated to do so under the Alberta Employment Standards Code.

Length of Maternity Leave in Alberta

• Up to 16 consecutive weeks of unpaid, job protected leave
• Birth parents must take at least 6 weeks, unless employer agrees to an early return with medical proof of health
• If the pregnancy ends in miscarriage or stillbirth within 16 weeks of the due date, employees are entitled to the full leave

Pregnant employees are entitled to 16 consecutive weeks of unpaid maternity leave.

Birth parents must take at least six weeks of leave after delivering their baby unless you agree to their request for an early return, and they provide you with a medical certificate stating the early return will not endanger their health.

Please note that if the pregnancy ends in a miscarriage or stillbirth within 16 weeks of the estimated due date, your employee is still entitled to the full length of the maternity leave.

When Maternity Leave Begins

• Can begin at the earliest of 13 weeks prior to the due date of delivery
• Can begin at the latest of the date of birth
• Employers can request it begin up to 12 weeks prior to due date if performance is affected by pregnancy

The earliest your employee can start the leave is within the 13 weeks leading up to the expected due date. The leave can be taken no later than the date of birth.

However, if the pregnancy affects the employee’s work performance during the 12 weeks before their due date, you can require that the employee start their maternity leave earlier by notifying your employee in writing.

Notice Requirements for Maternity Leave

Starting Maternity Leave

• Must give written notice 6 weeks prior
• If they fail to give notice due to a medical or birth situation, they’re still eligible
• Must provide a medical certificate within 2 weeks of the last day of work, or as soon as possible

Employees are required to provide their employers at least six (6) weeks’ notice before starting maternity leave. They are not required to give a specific return date at that time, but they may do so if they wish.

If the employee is unable to provide notice prior to taking the leave due to medical reasons, they are still entitled to the leave, but they must provide written notice as soon as possible. The employee must then provide written notice and a medical certificate to the employer within two weeks of their last work day, or as soon as possible.

Employers should securely store all correspondence, certifications and accurately track the length of the employee’s leave.

Medical Certificate Requirements

Employers can, and should, request a medical certificate before an employee begins maternity leave. This should be limited to confirming:

• That the employee is pregnant
• The estimated delivery date

All requests for medical certificates should be conducted sensitively, be strictly limited to legally required information and stored securely to protect sensitive information.

Ending Maternity Leave

Employees on maternity leave must provide written notice to their employers at least 4 weeks before they:

• Return to work
• Won’t return to work

If an employee fails to give notice or return to work the day after their leave ends, employers are not required to reinstate them, unless this failure is due to unforeseen or unpreventable circumstances.

In the event of an unexpected circumstance, it is at the discretion of the employer to approve an extension of leave; but they are not required by the ESC to do so. This does not mean that the employee is ineligible to be reinstated.

When Employees Return from Maternity Leave

Reinstating The Employee

When employees on maternity leave re-join work, employers must give them their same (or equivalent) job back. You must also count the leave period in any calculation of length of the employment and seniority.

If an employer implements a general wage increase across the business or within the employee’s job class during the maternity leave period, the employee is legally entitled to the higher rate of pay immediately upon being reinstated.

Employers cannot terminate, lay off, discriminate against, or ask an employee to resign because of pregnancy, childbirth, or for taking maternity leave.

Employers may only terminate or lay off an employee that is entitled to or has started maternity leave if they suspend or discontinue their business. In this case, the employer must reinstate the employee is the business starts up again within 52 weeks after their leave ended.

Vacation Days and Pay

Any annual vacation that was earned prior to the employee’s maternity leave must be taken within 12 months after it was earned. If this 12 month period happens during the employee’s maternity leave, the employee must:

• Take the remaining vacation time at the end of their leave
• Get approval from the employer to take the vacation time at a later date.

Vacation Pay accrues as the employee works. Thus, Alberta employers are not required to provide vacation pay to an employee that has not earned wages during an inactive employment period due to pregnancy leave. However, employees do accrue vacation time during inactive employment. It is up to the employer’s discretion to recognize and allow for vacation pay to accrue for an employee on pregnancy/parental leave.

Reasonable Accommodations

As an employer, you must be prepared to accommodate employees’ needs upon their return to work. This must be up to the point of undue hardship to the business, which must be accompanied by proof that the employer has exhausted as many considerations as possible.

Reasonable accommodations include providing a private space for the employee to express breastmilk, allowing for a flexible work schedule, and providing additional training or support to help the employee transition back to work.

What to Know About Pregnancy Discrimination

In Canada, it is illegal to discriminate against someone because they are pregnant or have a pregnancy-related medical condition and doing so can have serious consequences.

Beyond legal obligations, discrimination against pregnant employees can create a hostile work environment and negatively impact the health and well-being of the employee.

Additionally, pregnancy discrimination can result in high turnover rates, as pregnant employees may feel forced to leave their job due to mistreatment, as well as damage your business’ reputation.

It is essential for employers to prevent pregnancy discrimination in the workplace to ensure legal compliance, promote ethical practices, and maintain a positive work environment.

Employment Insurance with Maternity & Parental Leave

In Alberta maternity and parental leaves are covered by Employment Insurance. This means employers don’t have to pay wages to employees who use these leaves unless agreed upon in an employment contract or collective agreement.

More information is available for exact EI rates on the Government of Canada’s website.

Length of Parental Leave in Alberta

For parental leave, birth and adoptive parents can take up to 62 weeks of unpaid leave. The number of weeks of leave exceeds the Employment Insurance benefit length by one week to accommodate for the waiting period. Employees should know this before taking their leave.

Parental leave can be taken by:

• The birth parent, immediately following maternity leave
• The other (non-birth) parent
• Adoptive parents, or
• Both parents, shared between them

Leave can begin any time after the birth or adoption of a child, but it must be completed within 78 weeks of the date the baby is born or placed with the parents.

Parental Leave Notice

If your employee is sharing parental leave with the other parent, they should inform you of their intention to do so. Two employees, who work for the same employer, may combine parental leave for a maximum of 62 weeks. However, the employer is not legally obligated to grant parental leave to both parents at the same time.

Please note that a birth parent taking maternity leave isn’t required to give you notice before starting parental leave, unless they originally arranged to use only 16 weeks of maternity leave.

Do you need help creating a maternity leave policy in Alberta?

Maternity leave is a crucial benefit for new parents in Alberta, and carries heightened risk for non-compliance from Albertan employers.

Having an effective maternity leave policy will help clarify issues such as medical documentation, additional pay, and vacation days. Our HR consultants can assist you with company policies and with any other human resource management, health & safety, or employment advice you may need. To learn more about how our services can benefit your business, call us today at +1(833)247-3652