CUPE 3906 members (TAs and RAs in lieu, Sessionals and Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty, and Postdocs) may access up to 17 weeks of paid pregnancy leave (for birth parents) and up to 13 weeks of paid parental leave (for birth parents and non-birth parents) with Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (“SUB”). “SUB” refers to a wage top-up from the Employer, which can be:
- 95% of your regular wages for the duration of pregnancy leave (for birth parents)
and/or
- 95% of your regular wages for 13 weeks of a parental Leave, or
- 100% of your regular wages for the first 6 weeks of a parental leave
The above amount is less anything that is paid to you by Employment Insurance Pregnancy/Parental Leave through Service Canada.
Subsequent unpaid leave for a longer period may also be possible as per the Employment Standards Act. More information about these leaves is available in your Collective Agreement.
There are a few very important things to think about if you are considering going on a pregnancy or parental leave:
- You can only receive a wage top up (SUB) for hours that you are contracted to work. In other words, you can only take an employment leave and receive a wage top up (SUB) from a job that have been contracted to do. (In other words, you can’t take an employment leave from a job that you don’t have.)
- For example, if you are a TA and you normally work in the fall and winter terms, do not normally work in the spring/summer term, and elect to go on parental leave in March, you will not receive a wage top up (SUB) after the end of the winter term. In this example, to receive a top up during the spring/summer term, you would have to obtain a contract or clear offer to work as a TA or RA in lieu for the spring/summer term to receive the SUB benefits in the spring/summer. That said, they cannot deny you work because you are pregnant or have a new baby.
- To receive any SUB payments, you will need to accept work and then take leave from it. Even if you are planning on taking leave, you cannot do so without first accepting the work. You can then indicate immediately after that you are taking leave from that work
- To access leave as an employee, you must fill out an employee leave of absence form https://hr.mcmaster.ca/app/uploads/2019/02/REQUEST-FOR-LOA-Aug-2011-1-40.pdf in addition to any leave forms that you may elect to fill out as a student (see below for more details if you are a student)
- Your department cannot deny you work, or rearrange when is if offered to you, simply because you are expected to take leave. For example, if you are normally given work during the fall and winter semesters but are having a baby in September, your department cannot simply assign you a position in the spring/summer instead of the fall to avoid you being able to take leave the in fall
- Timing matters. Because TAs/RAs and Sessionals do not work throughout the year, when you elect to take leave is important in order to maximize your benefits. You cannot be compelled to take paid parental leave at a specific time – when you elect to take the leave is up to you. It is worth speaking to your union to ensure that your entitlement is maximized
- For example, taking paid leave if you have only one or two weeks until the end of your contract may not be worthwhile if you are expecting work in a future term.
- You must apply for maternity and parental Employment Insurance (EI) to receive SUB benefits from McMaster, even if you do not expect to qualify for government benefits. McMaster will insist on seeing proof that you attempted to obtain government benefits. It’s a good idea to make a Service Canada profile long before you go on leave, as the government may have to mail you your password via standard (not electronic) post. For more information, please visit the Service Canada website: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental.html
- SUB payments through McMaster are available to all qualifying employees, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, even if paid parental leave through the government is not available to you.
- You have to work as an employee for 13 weeks at McMaster University before you qualify for pregnancy and parental leave. These weeks do not have to be for work completed in your current position. For example, if you worked as a food service worker at McMaster in 2022 for 6 months, and began grad school this past January (2023), you would have already completed this 13 week period in 2022 working in another role at McMaster. (Please note that having a been a student only at McMaster does not count as working as an employee at McMaster for employment leave purposes.)
- You should not avoid applying to work (TA or RA in lieu work, or Sessional Work, or extensions to Postdoc contracts or new Postdoc contracts) that you would otherwise want to do just because you intend to go on leave. McMaster University and the Union agree about this! Not hiring someone because they are on a protected leave or intend to go on a protected leave is discriminatory, so you are expected to apply and accept any work that you would normally want to do even if you intend to go on leave. If you avoid applying and accepting jobs at McMaster simply because you are (or will be) on a protected leave, you will not only miss out on income, your CV will suffer. McMaster would prefer to honour protected leaves than be accused of discrimination.
For postdoctoral fellows (who are not students) the process is a bit more straightforward. The above criteria still applies, but you generally have ongoing work, take leave from it, and return to your position when the leave is up. Timing is less of an issue because your work does not vary from term-to-term in the way that a TA’s work or a Sessional’s work does.
Additionally, if you are taking parental leave when you are also a student at McMaster (either as a TA or RA in lieu, or a Sessional), there are are few additional things you need to know.
Here are a few important points to consider if you are also a student:
- This leave is an employment leave that is separate and distinct from any leave you take as a student. Just because you go on a leave as a student, you are not automatically on leave as an employee, and vice versa. You are not obligated to go on leave as a student just because you are going on a leave as an employee, and vice versa.
- You can also take leave as a student at a different time than you take leave as an employee – these leaves do not need to overlap. To access leave as an employee, you must fill out an employee leave of absence form https://hr.mcmaster.ca/app/uploads/2019/02/REQUEST-FOR-LOA-Aug-2011-1-40.pdf in addition to any leave forms that you may elect to fill out as a student.
- You can only receive a wage top up (SUB) for TA and RA in lieu hours that you are contracted to work. In other words, you can only take an employment leave and receive a wage top up (SUB) from a job that have been contracted to do. As a result, to receive any SUB payments, you will need to accept work and then take leave from it. Even if you are planning on taking leave, you cannot do so without first accepting the work. You can then indicate immediately after that you are taking leave from that work
- As we noted above, your department cannot deny you work, or rearrange when is if offered to you, simply because you are expected to take leave. For example, if you are normally given work during the fall and winter semesters but are having a baby in September, your department cannot simply assign you a TA position in the spring/summer to avoid you being able to take leave the in fall
- We recommend that you speak with the Graduate Student Association (GSA) on how to best navigate pregnancy and parental leave as a student
Finally, this description should not be considered as comprehensive advice about employee pregnancy and parental leaves. When in doubt, ask us for help! There are many factors involved in TA and RA in lieu leaves, and it’s best not to assume anything. Reach out to CUPE 3906 for advice about TA and RA in lieu employment leaves! Please contact staff@cupe3906.org, brad@cupe3906.org, or mary@cupe3906.org
for more information.
We encourage anyone who is planning on taking pregnancy and/or parental leave to contact us (staff@cupe3906.org) to help walk you though this complicated process.