a) Every female teacher shall be entitled to maternity leave and every teacher shall be entitled to adoptive leave in accordance with this article.
b) Every teacher shall be entitled to unpaid parental leave.
c) Except as otherwise provided herein, the Manitoba Employment Standards Code will apply and nothing in this article shall reduce a teacher’s rights to maternity, parental or adoptive leave as provided for in the Code.
d) The teacher and The District may mutually agree to extend the length of leave beyond that provided for in the Employment Standards Code; any such arrangements will be confirmed in writing by The District. The teacher shall comply with notice provisions as set out in the Employment Standards Code when requesting leave.
e) Maternity, adoptive, parental leave shall not constitute a break in employment for teachers under a Teacher General contract or teachers under a Limited Teacher-General contract who have been offered continued employment by The District.
f) Upon expiry of leave, the teacher shall be reinstated in the position occupied by the teacher at the time such leave commenced or in a comparable and/or mutually agreed upon position, with not less than the same salary and benefits prior to commencement of the leave.
g) SEB Benefits
(i) Maternity Leave
A teacher taking maternity leave pursuant to this article shall be entitled, in respect of the period of maternity leave; payments made according to the SEB Plan will consist of the following:
• For the first two weeks, payment equivalent to 90% percent of gross salary; and up to fifteen (15) additional weeks of payment equivalent to the difference between the Employment Insurance benefit the employee is eligible to receive and 90% of her gross salary.
(ii) Parental/Adoptive Leave
A teacher taking parental or adoptive leave shall receive pay for the period of leave up to ten (10) weeks of payment equivalent to the difference between the payment from HRDC and 90% of his/her salary. The ten weeks include any waiting period required for employment insurance benefits.
(iii) Top-Up Benefits
Effective July 1, 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.
Effective July 1, 2015, The District shall pay a teacher on maternity leave and/or parental/adoptive leave:
• 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 or parental leave and continues to receive employment insurance benefits;
• 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;
• 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:
(i) 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;
(ii) Eighty-five (85) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher only takes maternity leave;
(iii) 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 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 payment 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 maternity leave benefits.
h) 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.