Maternity Leave

A pregnant employee can apply for maternity leave from their employer if:

• they have been employed for at least 20 weeks of the 52 weeks prior to the commencement date for the maternity leave specified in the application, and

• provide a certificate from a medical practitioner that confirms the pregnancy and specifies the estimated date of birth.

The employee is entitled to a maximum of 17 weeks of maternity leave, which can start at any time during the 13 weeks immediately preceding the estimated date of birth.

If the actual date of birth is later than the estimated date, the employee is entitled to at least 6 weeks of leave after the actual date.

The employer may require the employee to start maternity leave up to 3 months before the estimated date of birth if the pregnancy would unreasonably interfere with the employee's duties.

• In order to do so, an employer must prove that the pregnancy would interfere with the employee's duties if there is a prosecution alleging a violation of this rule.

Adoption/Parental Leave

An employee who becomes a natural parent assumes actual care and custody of a child for the purposes of adoption, or adopts or obtains legal guardianship of a child under the law of a province can apply for parental leave.

• They must have been employed for at least 20 weeks of the 52 weeks immediately preceding the expected date of commencement of the leave and

• submit an application for parental leave at least 4 weeks before the expected date.

The leave can last up to 62 weeks, and it can be taken during the 78-week period commencing on the date of the child's birth or the date on which the child comes into the custody of the employee, whichever is later.

The total aggregate amount of leave that may be taken by one or two employees under maternity, parental, and adoption leave cannot exceed 78 weeks.

An employee may return to work before the expiry of the parental leave granted if the employer is given 2 weeks' written notice of the proposed return date.

Note: If an employee intends to take parental leave in addition to maternity leave, they must commence the parental leave immediately on the expiry of the maternity leave without a return to work in between, unless the employee and the employer agree otherwise.

PEI ESA s.19-22.02