Parental leave can now stretch to 18 months

New parents planning to take a parental leave and caregivers who look after family members will have access to benefits for a longer period of time starting next month.

On Nov 9, the federal government announced that pending changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) program will take effect on Dec. 3.

These program changes will allow parents with new children to extend their benefits over an 18-month period if they so choose, instead of the current 12-month maximum.

Currently with the 12-month limit, a parent can receive 55 per cent of their average weekly earnings up to a maximum of $543 per week.

If they elect to extend out to 18 months, they would receive 33 per cent of their average weekly earnings up to $326 per week instead.

In addition, expecting mothers will also now be eligible for EI maternity benefits up to 12 weeks before their due date.

EI changes also begin Dec. 3 for those who qualify for family caregiver benefits.

In the past, only the parent of a critically ill child could qualify, but this has now been opened up to extended family members if they take time off work to help.

This benefit will provide up to 35 weeks of EI assistance to those who take part and there is also a new 15-week benefit for those caring for a critically ill or injured adult family member too.

Family caregiver benefits for both children and adults may be combined with existing compassionate-care benefits, which provide up to 26 weeks of benefits for those leaving work to care for a family member who has a serious medical condition with significant risk of death in the next 26 weeks.

To be eligible for either of the above mentioned EI special-benefit programs, individuals require 600 insurable hours of work in the preceding 52 weeks.

Self employed workers may also be eligible if they’ve opted into the EI program and met the minimum work requirements (opt in at least one year before and have earned a minimum of $6,888 in 2016).

Another good piece of news that came back at the start of the year is that the EI waiting period was changed to one week (previously two weeks), so the payments that you may be eligible to receive from the program will reach you sooner.

This may result in being eligible for one extra week’s worth of benefits in some situations.

The EI program is just one of many assistance programs we have access to here in Canada. It’s up to you to find out what programs are out there and to make sure that you take advantage of what’s available to you.

Brett Millard is the owner of Speir Wealth Management in Kelowna. Reach him at brett@speirwealth.com.