Pregnancy Leave

If a pregnant employee has been working for her employer for at least a year (or a shorter period as specified by regulations), she can take an unpaid leave of up to 16 weeks.

The employee needs to give notice to her employer about the start and end dates of her leave and provide a medical certificate if requested.

The leave can start anytime up to 16 weeks before the expected delivery date, and end no later than 16 weeks after the leave started or the date of delivery, whichever is earlier.

An employer can require the employee to take unpaid leave if her duties cannot reasonably be performed by a pregnant woman or her work is materially affected.

Parental Leave

If an employee has been working for an employer for at least a year (or a shorter period as specified by regulations) and becomes a parent through childbirth or adoption, they can take an unpaid leave of up to 77 weeks.

The employee needs to provide notice to their employer about the start and end dates of the leave.

If the employee has already taken pregnancy leave and the newborn child arrives during the pregnancy leave, parental leave begins immediately after the pregnancy leave ends and ends no later than 61 weeks after the parental leave began.

If the employee is not following a pregnancy leave, parental leave begins on a date that coincides with or comes after the birth or arrival of the child and ends no later than 18 months after the child's arrival, as decided by the employee.

Note: The maximum combined pregnancy and parental leave an employee can take is 77 weeks.

Notice for Leave

An employee must give their employer at least four weeks' notice of when they will start their leave and when they plan to return to work unless they will be taking the maximum amount of leave allowed.

If the employee has worked for less than four weeks, they must give as much notice as is practical.

The employee can make changes to the notice, such as moving the start or end date of the leave, as long as they give at least four weeks' notice.

If unexpected medical circumstances arise, the employee must give notice as soon as possible. The notice must be in writing if the employer requests it.

NS LSC s.59, 59D