General
1. Maternity and Parental/Adoptive Leaves shall be granted in accordance with The Employment Standards Code (Manitoba), which shall prevail if there is an inconsistency between the Code and this Article.
2. After a teacher has applied for Maternity and/or Parental/Adoptive Leave as provided for in Article 7.04 (3) and (4), the parties shall enter into a written agreement that:
a) an employee who returns to teaching duties within the same school year shall be reinstated to the position occupied by the teacher prior to the leave commenced;
b) where the Maternity or Parental/Adoptive Leave spans two (2) school years, the employee will be reinstated to either the same position occupied by the teacher at the time the leave commenced or a comparable position with no less than the same wages and benefits;
c) the date the teacher will resume teaching duties unless the District agrees to extend the leave;
d) the District will pay the employer’s portion of the benefits contained in Articles 9.01, 9.02, 9.03 and 9.05 for the leave periods.
Maternity Leave
3. Every female teacher who has been employed by the District for seven (7) months shall be entitled to Maternity Leave of up to seventeen (17) weeks if she:
a) submits an application for leave at least four (4) weeks before the date she wishes her leave to commence and indicates the date she wishes to resume her teaching duties; and
b) provides a medical certificate giving the estimated date of delivery.
Parental/Adoptive Leave
4. Every teacher who has been employed by the District for seven (7) months shall be entitled to Parental/Adoptive Leave of up to thirty-seven (37) weeks if the teacher submits an application for leave at least four (4) weeks before the date the teacher wishes the leave to commence, indicates the date the teacher wishes to resume teaching duties, and in the case of adoption provides documentation of the estimated date the teacher is to gain custody of a child.
Top-Up Benefits
5. Effective July 1st, 2015, a teacher taking Maternity Leave and/or Parental/Adoptive Leave pursuant to this Article shall be entitled to receive pay equivalent to ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary at the time the leave commenced plus any subsequently negotiated salary adjustments for up to one hundred and thirty-five (135) teaching days, which pay will include any employment insurance benefits received in accordance with this Article.
6. Effective July 1st, 2015, the District shall pay a teacher on Maternity Leave and/or Parental/Adoptive Leave:
a) If the teacher’s two (2) week or ten (10) day waiting period falls entirely on teaching days, ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary plus up to seventy-five (75) teaching days of Maternity Leave Top-up calculated at the difference between the teacher’s employment insurance benefit and ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary provided the teacher remains on either Maternity Leave or Parental Leave and continues to receive employment insurance benefits;
b) If the teacher’s two (2) week or ten (10) day waiting period falls partially or entirely within a non-teaching period, ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary for any teaching days and up to eighty-five (85) teaching days of Maternity Leave top up calculated at the difference between the teacher’s employment insurance benefit and ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary provided the teacher remains on either Maternity or Parental Leave and continues to receive employment insurance benefits;
c) Up to fifty (50) teaching days of Parental/Adoptive Leave top-up calculated at the difference between the teacher’s employment insurance benefit and ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary provided the teacher remains on Parental/Adoptive Leave and continues to receive employment insurance benefits.
For greater certainty, a teacher who is receiving employment insurance benefits shall be entitled to:
a) One hundred and thirty-five (135) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher takes both Maternity Leave and Parental/Adoptive Leave;
b) Eighty-five (85) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher only takes Maternity Leave;
c) Fifty (50) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher only takes Parental/Adoptive Leave;
unless the teacher takes a shorter period of Maternity Leave and/or Parental/Adoptive Leave in which case, the pay and/or top-up will be pro-rated to reflect the actual number of teaching days taken. The parties acknowledge that the top-up payments made by the District for Maternity Leave may extend into the period of time that the teacher is on Parental Leave but the payment is intended to be a top-up of the Maternity Leave benefits.
7. Non-Application
This Article shall not apply to any teacher who is employed on a term contract during the teacher’s first year of employment. All other teachers shall be eligible to receive the top-up benefits once they have been employed for a period of seven (7) months by the District.