Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave An Employee who is expecting the birth or adoption of a child shall be entitled to maternity/paternity/adoption leave without pay, provided she presents a medical certificate confirming the probable date of confinement, or in the case of adoption, gives the Employer notice of eligibility. Except in extenuating circumstances, the notice shall be submitted in writing at least twenty-eight (28) days in advance of the leave and shall specify the probable date of commencement and the anticipated length of leave. The following conditions shall apply:
(a) Leave of Absence for maternity/paternity/adoption shall be for up to eighteen (18) months as requested by the Employee, except in extenuating circumstances when, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, the leave should be further extended.
(b) Upon return from such leave, the Employee will resume employment at the same worksite, in the same or in a comparable position prior to the granting of such leave. In the event the Employee on Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave is affected by lay off, she shall be afforded access to the provisions of Article 26, Layoff And Work Resumption.
(c) Notice of intention to return to work or request for a change of the length of the leave of absence, must be forwarded to the Employer twenty-eight (28) days prior to the expiration of the leave. The Employee shall be entitled to one (1) extension of said leave. However, the entire length of such leave of absence shall not exceed eighteen (18) months.
(d) An Employee shall have access to sick leave credits as per Article 12.07.
(e) Accrual of seniority when on such leave is calculated as follows:
(i) For full-time Employees, seniority shall accrue as if they were working.
(ii) For other than full-time Employees who have worked for one (1) year or more: 52 Week of Leave
(iii) For other than full-time Employees who have worked for less than one (1) year:
(f) Supplemental Employment Insurance Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Supplemental Employment Benefit (SEB) The Employer will implement a Supplemental Employment Benefits Plan. Employees will receive the Supplementary Employment Benefits if they meet eligibility requirements. Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Supplemental Employment Benefit (SEB) shall apply to all Employees.
Notification of Absence A unit member shall contact the office of the division xxxx whenever there is a need to be absent and at least thirty (30) minutes prior to missing any work assignment. Should circumstances prohibit this notification, the unit member shall notify the division office in writing, within one week of returning to work, providing the reasons why advance notification was not given.
Special Maternity Allowance for Totally Disabled Employees (a) An employee who:
(i) fails to satisfy the eligibility requirement specified in subparagraph 17.02(a)(ii) solely because a concurrent entitlement to benefits under the Disability Insurance (DI) Plan, the Long term Disability (LTD) Insurance portion of the Public Service Management Insurance Plan (PSMIP) or the Government Employees Compensation Act prevents her from receiving Employment Insurance or Québec Parental Insurance Plan maternity benefits, and
(ii) has satisfied all of the other eligibility criteria specified in paragraph 17.02(a), other than those specified in sections (A) and (B) of subparagraph 17.02(a)(iii), shall be paid, in respect of each week of maternity allowance not received for the reason described in subparagraph (i), the difference between ninety-three per cent (93%) of her weekly rate of pay and the gross amount of her weekly disability benefit under the DI Plan, the LTD Plan or via the Government Employees Compensation Act.
(b) An employee shall be paid an allowance under this clause and under clause 17.02 for a combined period of no more than the number of weeks during which she would have been eligible for maternity benefits under the Employment Insurance or Québec Parental Insurance Plan had she not been disqualified from Employment Insurance or Québec Parental Insurance maternity benefits for the reasons described in subparagraph (a)(i).
Maternity/Paternity Leave Solely for purposes of determining whether the Employee incurs a Break in Service under any provision of this Plan, the Advisory Committee must credit Hours of Service during an Employee's unpaid absence period due to maternity or paternity leave. The Advisory Committee considers an Employee on maternity or paternity leave if the Employee's absence is due to the Employee's pregnancy, the birth of the Employee's child, the placement with the Employee of an adopted child, or the care of the Employee's child immediately following the child's birth or placement. The Advisory Committee credits Hours of Service under this paragraph on the basis of the number of Hours of Service the Employee would receive if he were paid during the absence period or, if the Advisory Committee cannot determine the number of Hours of Service the Employee would receive, on the basis of 8 hours per day during the absence period. The Advisory Committee will credit only the number (not exceeding 501) of Hours of Service necessary to prevent an Employee's Break in Service. The Advisory Committee credits all Hours of Service described in this paragraph to the computation period in which the absence period begins or, if the Employee does not need these Hours of Service to prevent a Break in Service in the computation period in which his absence period begins, the Advisory Committee credits these Hours of Service to the immediately following computation period.
Parental/Adoption Leave a) A full-time or regular-part time nurse who commenced employment with the Employer at least thirteen (13) weeks before the expected date of delivery or date of custody of a child and is a parent, shall be entitled to thirty seven (37) weeks of parental or adoption leave of absence without pay, in accordance with the provisions of the Employment Standards Act of Ontario, except as amended in this Article.
b) The nurse shall advise the Employer in writing seven (7) weeks in advance, but not later than two (2) weeks in advance, of the date the parental/adoption leave is to commence and end. Such leave must commence no later than thirty-five (35) weeks after the child was born or came into the custody, care or control of the parent.
c) The nurse shall re-confirm her intention to return to work or may request changes to dates originally approved in subsection b) above by written notification to be received by the Employer at least seven (7) weeks in advance thereof. The nurse shall be reinstated to her former position unless the position has been discontinued in which case she shall be placed in a comparable position.
d) A full-time nurse’s seniority, vacation and sick leave shall continue to accrue during parental and adoption leave. However, the nurse will not be paid for named holidays occurring during such leaves of absence. A regular part-time nurse who is on an approved parental/adoption leave shall accrue seniority while on such leave, calculated on the basis of averaging her hours over the twenty (20) week period immediately preceding the week in which her leave commences.
e) During the nurse's parental or adoption leave, the nurse shall continue to participate in the pension plan and insured benefit plans (applicable to full-time nurses only) she is enrolled in immediately prior to commencing her leave, unless she gives the Employer seven (7) weeks advance written notice before her leave is to commence that she does not intend to do so. The nurse shall be required to prepay her share of any premiums and pension contributions.
f) A nurse returning from parental/adoption leave shall be paid at the same step in salary scale that she had attained prior to going on such leave of absence. Should an anniversary increment fall during such leave of absence, the nurse shall receive her anniversary increment upon her return to employment.
g) Nurses hired to replace nurses who are on approved parental/adoption leave, may be released and such release shall not be the subject of a grievance or arbitration. If retained by the Employer, the nurse shall be credited with seniority from her date of hire subject to successfully completing her probationary period.
Maternity Maternity leaves, not to exceed six (6) months, shall be granted at the request of the employee.
Employment During Unpaid Maternity Leave Where less than the 52 weeks Other Parent Leave is taken paid or unpaid, the unused portion of the leave cannot be banked or preserved in any way.
Return from Leave of Absence (a) Before a Nurse may return to work from a leave granted under Article 9.00, she or he must provide a minimum of four (4) weeks written notice of the specific date of his or her return to work, or such shorter time as mutually agreed.
(b) Upon return from an approved Unpaid Leave of Absence, a Nurse shall be reinstated to her or his former position unless the position has been discontinued, in which case the Nurse shall be appointed to an equivalent position.
(c) This clause requiring four (4) weeks written notice, does not apply to other leaves granted by an express provision of this Collective Agreement with different requirements for written notice.
Adoption Leave Upon request, a regular employee shall be granted thirty-seven (37) weeks adoption leave of absence without pay. The employee shall furnish proof of adoption. Where both parents are employees of the same Employer, the employees shall decide which of them will apply for adoption leave.
Special maternity leave (a) Where the pregnancy of an employee not then on maternity leave terminates after 28 weeks other than by the birth of a living child, then the employee may take unpaid special maternity leave of such periods as a registered medical practitioner certifies as necessary.
(b) Where an employee is suffering from an illness not related to the direct consequences of the confinement, an employee may take any paid sick leave to which she is entitled in lieu of, or in addition to, special maternity leave.
(c) Where an employee not then on maternity leave suffers illness related to her pregnancy, she may take any paid sick leave to which she is then entitled and such further unpaid special maternity leave as a registered medical practitioner certifies as necessary before her return to work. The aggregate of paid sick leave, special maternity leave and parental leave, including parental leave taken by a spouse, may not exceed 52 weeks.
