Casual Legal: Maternity & parental leave

DISCLAIMER: This article is meant to provide information only and is not intended to provide legal advice. You should seek the advice of legal counsel to address your specific set of circumstances. Although every effort has been made to provide current and accurate information, changes to the law may cause the information in this article to be outdated. 

By Rielle Gagnon 

Reynolds Mirth Richards Farmer LLP 

Alberta Municipalities Casual Legal Service Provider  

Maternity and parental leave entitlements for employees, along with notice requirements for taking such leaves, are presented in Part 2, Division 7 of the Employment Standards Code, RSA 2000, c E-9 and Part 5.1, section 54.3 of the Employment Standards Regulation, Alta Reg 14/199.  

Who is eligible for maternity leave?  

Any pregnant employee who has been employed by the same employer for at least 90 days is entitled to take an unpaid maternity leave.  

How long is maternity leave?  

Eligible employees are entitled to take up to 16 weeks of maternity leave. Maternity leave may start any time during the 13 weeks leading up to the estimated delivery date. Pregnant employees who miscarry within 16 weeks of the estimated due date are also entitled to take maternity leave. Employees taking maternity leave must take a leave of at least 6 weeks immediately following their delivery date, unless the employee and employer reach an agreement to shorten the period on the basis of a medical certificate from the employee’s health care provider. 

What is parental leave?  

All employees who are eligible for maternity leave are also eligible for parental leave. However, there are some additional groups of employees who are eligible for parental leave who may not be eligible for maternity leave.  

An employer is required to grant parental leave to the following groups of eligible employees:  

• Employees eligible for maternity leave (entitlement of up to 62 consecutive weeks of parental leave following the last day of maternity leave) 
• A parent who has been employed by the employer for at least 90 days who did not give birth to the child (entitlement of up to 62 consecutive weeks within 78 weeks of the child’s birth date) 
• Adoptive parents who have been employed by the same employer for at least 90 days (entitlement of up to 62 consecutive weeks within 78 weeks of the day the child is laced with the adoptive parent for adoption).  

Parental leave for parents of the same child may be taken wholly by one of the employees or shared by the employees. If two employees are parents of the same child and are employed by the same employer, the employer is not obligated to grant parental leave to more than one employee at a time. 

To access Alberta Municipalities Casual Legal Helpline, Alberta Municipalities members can call toll-free to 1-800-661-7673 or email casuallegal [at] abmunis.ca (casuallegal[at]abmunis[dot]ca) and reach the municipal legal experts at Reynolds Mirth Richards and Farmer LLP. For more information on the Casual Legal Service, please contact riskcontrol [at] abmunis.ca (riskcontrol[at]abmunis[dot]ca), or call 310-MUNI (6864) to speak to Alberta Municipalities Risk Management staff. Any Regular or Associate member of Alberta Municipalities can access the Casual Legal Service.