Montreal mother loses job during maternity leave, then denied EI

After a year on maternity leave, a Montreal mother expected to return to work last fall.

Instead, she found herself without a job and without employment insurance.

Celia Johnston was laid off just days before she was set to go back to work in October. When she applied for EI, however, her claim was denied.

“It’s stressful because when you’re on maternity leave, your income is already docked about 50 per cent,” Johnston said. “So it’s a financially vulnerable year to begin with. And then you find out that you’re not getting these benefits that you paid in for for your entire career.

“It’s frustrating to know that a program that you’ve paid into for so long just drops the ball when you need it.”

Under EI rules, claimants can receive a maximum of 50 weeks of combined benefits within a 52-week period. In Quebec, a parent who gives birth can use all 50 weeks through maternity and parental leave. If that parent is then laid off, there are no weeks left to qualify for regular EI.

“When I applied for EI, I was definitely under the assumption that I would be getting it,” Johnston said. “I had not realized that this was a policy gap until two months later when they finally got back to me with the decision.”

Fanny Labelle with Montreal’s Mouvement Action-Chômage says Johnston’s case is far from unique. She says she hears from about one mother every week facing the same situation.

“It’s a national issue,” said Labelle, the group’s spokesperson. “So we think there may be thousands a year, mothers that live that situation. So it’s quite a lot.”

Mouvement Action-Chômage is calling on the federal government to reform Employment Insurance policies. The group has been building its case since 2018 and is representing six mothers who it says were failed by the current EI system.

Their legal challenge had a preliminary hearing in federal court on Nov. 6, and they’re now awaiting the court’s decision.

“It’s a lot of women that don’t have financial security, financial autonomy,” Labelle said. “If you are a single mother, that’s really rough if you don’t have any income. But if you have a partner, you have to depend on that partner. We don’t want that for women in Canada.”

The advocacy group is calling for two key changes.

First, it wants to see the removal of the 50-week cap that prevents mothers from accessing regular EI after maternity or parental leave.

And second, it wants the benefit period extended beyond 52 weeks and to recognize maternity and parental leave as a valid reason for an extension, just as the system already does in other cases.

“To know that there’s zero support in this situation, I definitely feel abandoned, especially since QPIP and EI in Quebec are noted as different deductions on your pay slip,” Johnston said.

In a statement to CityNews, Employment and Social Development Canada said: “The Government of Canada is working on improving EI to better reflect realities of the modern workforce. … Several important changes have been made since 2017 to the EI program that give working parents more flexibility. This includes allowing EI maternity to be claimed up to 12 weeks before childbirth.

“The Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) provides residents of the province with benefits similar to EI maternity and parental benefits. Quebec residents can combine QPIP benefits with other EI benefits.”

“In our heart, we want to go there because we want to change the law,” Labelle said. “And we want to oblige the government to change that law.”

Added Johnston: “I feel if this situation has been ongoing for so long, it’s surprising to me that EI doesn’t already have somebody that’s dedicated to these kinds of cases so that it doesn’t have to take so long to get a response.”