Parental leave and preventive withdrawal

Leave under the Act respecting labour standards

Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail

The paid and unpaid leave you are entitled to is specified in the Act respecting labour standards. While the Act protects the majority of salaried employees in Québec, some are totally or partially excluded. Unionized employees should check the clauses in their collective agreements dealing with leave.

The Act respecting labour standards also provides for unexpected events that may occur during certain types of leave; these provisions allow you to be absent to fulfill obligations related to your child’s care, health and education. Contact the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail for details.

Note that some leave that is unpaid under the Act respecting labour standards is paid, in whole or in part, under the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (see Québec Parental Insurance Plan).

To avail yourself of any of the leaves described in this section, you must meet certain eligibility requirements.

Leave granted for medical examinations related to pregnancy

You may be absent from work, without pay, for medical examinations related to your pregnancy. You must notify your employer as soon as possible of the time you will be away.

Maternity leave

Generally speaking, if you are a salaried employee and pregnant, you are entitled to take up to 18 consecutive weeks of maternity leave without pay. The maternity leave may begin in or after the 16th week preceding the expected date of delivery and end not later than the 20th week after the date of delivery. You can therefore distribute your leave before and after the week of delivery.

At your request, the maternity leave is suspended, divided or extended if required by your state of health or that of your child.

At least three weeks before you start your leave, or less if your state of health forces you to leave sooner, you must give written notice to your employer, stating the date on which your maternity leave will begin and the anticipated date of your return to work. The notice must be accompanied by a detailed medical certificate or a written report signed by a midwife.

At the end of your maternity leave, the employer must reinstate you in your former position and give you the same salary and benefits to which you would have been entitled had you remained at work.

Leave for parents (birth or adoption)

You and your spouse may be absent from work for five days, the first two of which are paid, at the birth of your child, the adoption of a child or if there is a termination of pregnancy in or after the 20th week of pregnancy.

At your request, these five day of leave may be taken one day at a time, not necessarily consecutively. With your employer’s consent, they may also be taken in hours.

This leave may not be taken more than 15 days after the child’s arrival at home or after the termination of pregnancy, or if you already are on maternity or paternity leave.

Paternity leave

You are entitled to take up to five consecutive weeks of unpaid paternity leave upon the birth of your child. You may not transfer your paternity leave to the mother of your child or divide it between you. Paternity leave is in addition to the five days of leave (see above Leave for parents (birth or adoption)). It may begin in or after the week of your child’s birth and must end not later than 78 weeks after the birth.

At your request, the paternity leave is suspended, divided or extended if required by your state of health or that of your child. In other situations, at your request and with your employer’s consent, the leave may be divided into weeks.

Parental leave

The mother and father of a newborn as well as anyone who adopts a child (including their spouse’s child) are entitled to parental leave without pay of up to 65 consecutive weeks. Parental leave is in addition to the maternity leave of up to 18 weeks or, in the case of the father, paternity leave of up to 5 weeks.

Parental leave of 65 weeks begins in or after the week of your child’s birth or, in the case of adoption, the week the child is entrusted to your care, or the week in which you leave your work to go to a place outside Québec to pick up the child. Parental leave ends no later than 78 weeks after the birth of your child or, in the case of adoption, 78 weeks after the child was entrusted to your care.

At your request, the parental leave may be suspended, divided or extended if required by your state of health or that of your child. In other situations, at your request and with your employer’s consent, the leave may be divided into weeks.

You must give your employer at least three weeks’ notice prior to taking parental leave, indicating the date on which your leave will begin and the date on which you will return to work. This period may be shorter if the presence of the parent is required with the child or the mother because of their state of health. Notice may be shorter in certain cases.

For more information, contact the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail.

Online
www.cnesst.gouv.qc.ca

By telephone
Throughout Québec: 1-844-838-0808

For a Safe Maternity Experience program

Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail

The purpose of the For a Safe Maternity Experience program is to enable pregnant and nursing women to continue working.

If you are pregnant and your work duties are dangerous for your unborn child or for yourself, because of your pregnancy, you are entitled to be reassigned to duties that involve no such danger and that you are capable of performing.

The employer is required to eliminate the hazards present in the workplace and described in the Preventive withdrawal and reassignment certificate for a pregnant or breast‑feeding worker form. The employer decides which means of action are appropriate:

  • Eliminate at the source the hazards
  • Modify the worker’s duties
  • Adapt the worker’s workstation
  • Reassign the worker to duties that she is capable of performing

If your duties or work station cannot be modified, if you cannot be assigned to other duties or if the danger cannot be eliminated at the source, you may stop working temporarily and receive compensation from the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail.

To avail yourself of this program, whose main objective is to allow you to continue working in a safe environment, you must ask the health professional in charge of your pregnancy follow-up or postnatal follow-up to complete the Preventive withdrawal and reassignment certificate for a pregnant or breast‑feeding worker form.

For the certificate to be valid, this health professional must consult the physician in charge of health services for the establishment where you are employed or the physician designated by the public health director of the region in which the establishment is located. There is no charge to obtain the certificate. You must give the certificate to your employer.

If you are nursing your child and wish to avail yourself of the For a Safe Maternity Experience program, you will need to obtain a new certificate, even if you were reassigned or benefited from preventive withdrawal while pregnant. In the case of nursing mothers, only conditions that could harm the child are taken into consideration.

For more information, contact the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail.

Online
www.cnesst.gouv.qc.ca

By telephone
Throughout Québec: 1-844-838-0808