Discussions

Is there anyone who is currently on maternity leave that could help me with a question? I know I can contact CRA but wanted to get some personal experiences first.  
I see there have been some changes to maternity leave benefits specifically “for maternity and standard parental benefits, you'll receive at least $500 per week before taxes but you could receive more”.  
Does this mean that anyone who applies for EI on mat leave automatically receives $500 a week?  
That’s for your help on this.

Hopefully this will help answer some of your questions and let you know how much you could recieve.  
 
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental.html

hard to find real world experience as you have asked for. Google answers galore... LOL

you dont contact cra for maternity leave you contact service canada.

I'm not on mat leave but I know people who are. The 500/ week applies for the standard (12 month) leave as long as you start your claim before the end of September. If you choose the 18 month leave, the mat portion (15 weeks) is 500/ week and then it switches to 300/ week for the rest. There was a link posted above that should cover most of your questions. Just keep in mind if you've had an EI claim recently, you might have used the Covid hours credit and would need the normal 600 hours for a claim.  
 
Those are the minimum payment amount. You can get more if 55% of your income is higher.  
 
Edited by JM3030, 2021-03-04 11:23:27

I’m guessing you mean a minimum of $500 every 2 weeks, not every week. I am currently on mat leave and your mat leave pay depends on your best 2 weeks of income over the past year. You get paid every 2 weeks just like a wage. If you take 12 months off you get 55% of your wage. If you take the 18 months you get 33%.

Sorry I see that it’s $500 per week BEFORE taxes so that could be right.