Maternity Leave (a) A pregnant employee is entitled to up to seventeen (17) consecutive weeks of unpaid pregnancy leave. (b) A pregnant employee will provide the College with a written request for leave at least four (4) weeks prior to the start of the leave and a medical certificate in support of the request for leave. (c) The maternity leave may start no earlier than eleven (11) weeks before the expected birth date, and must end no earlier than six (6) weeks after the birth date unless the employee produces a doctor's certificate, which supports a request for a shorter period. The leave period may be extended up to six (6) weeks if a doctor certifies that it is required. (d) A birth mother must request parental leave, as set out in Clause 23.2 and the Employment Standards Act, at least four (4) weeks before beginning parental leave. To take parental leave, the birth mother must begin that leave immediately after her maternity leave. (e) Where an employee who is at work becomes ill or injured following the commencement of the eleven (11) week period in (c) above such illness or injury shall be covered by application of the sick leave provision as follows: (1) where the illness or injury is not directly related to the condition of pregnancy, sick leave coverage may extend to the scheduled date of commencement of maternity leave, or birth of the child(ren), whichever occurs first; (2) where the illness is caused through an abnormal condition of pregnancy as verified in writing by a qualified medical practitioner and the employee returns to work before the scheduled commencement date of maternity leave, the period of absence will be covered by the provisions of Article 20.7(a) and 20.7(b). (f) On return from maternity leave, an employee shall be placed in her former position. (g) When an employee is on maternity leave, employment is considered continuous for the purposes of calculating annual vacations, seniority and termination entitlement, as well as for pension, medical or other plans of benefits to the employee. The College will also continue to make payments to any such plans unless the employee chooses not to continue with her share of the cost of a plan. The employee is also entitled to all increases in wages and benefits which the employee would have received if not on leave. (h) An employee on maternity leave shall notify the College of the date when the employee shall be returning to work, four (4) weeks prior to the expiration of the maternity leave. If no notification is given, the employee shall be deemed to have abandoned the position.
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.
Paternity Leave 7.4.6(a) An employee will provide to the employer at least ten weeks prior to each proposed period of paternity leave, with: