PEMBINA TRAILS TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION

EFFECTIVE PERIOD: 2018/07/01 - 2022/06/30

ARTICLE 6: LEAVES OF ABSENCE

6.8 Maternity/Parental/Adoptive Leave

  1. Every teacher shall be entitled to maternity and/or parental and/or adoptive leave and any teacher, who has satisfied a seven (7) consecutive months of employment as a teacher with Pembina Trails School Division qualifying requirement, shall be entitled to the Supplementary Employment Benefits.
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  2. Except as otherwise provided herein, the provisions of the Employment Standards Code will apply.
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  2. The teacher and the Board may mutually agree to extend the length of the leave if the employee so desires. Any such arrangements shall be confirmed in writing by the Board. The Employment Standards Code shall apply, however, a period of maternity leave longer than contemplated in the Employment Standards Code may be agreed between the teacher and the Board to their mutual satisfaction and may include a determination that when the maternity leave expires during a school term, the teacher may return to work at the commencement of the term immediately following the expiration of the leave. For the purpose of this section "term" means either the months of September to December or January to June, or the commencement of a semester, as the case may be.
  1. A teacher taking maternity leave pursuant to this article shall be entitled to receive pay for the period of the leave up to seventeen weeks in the amount of 90% of the salary being received at the time leave was taken, this pay to include any benefits received from Employment Insurance pursuant to a Supplementary Employment Benefits Plan. The implementation of this clause is subject to the successful arrangement of a Supplementary Employment Benefits Plan with Human Resources Development Canada.
  1. The Division shall pay a teacher on Maternity Leave and/or Parental/ Adoptive Leave:
    1. if the teacher's one (1) week or five (S) day waiting period falls entirely on teaching days, ninety percent (90%) of the teacher's gross salary plus up to eighty (80) 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;
    1. if the teacher's one (1) week or five (5) 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;
    2. up to fifty (SO) 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:

  1. 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;
  1. Eighty-five (85) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher only takes maternity leave;
  1. Fifty (SO) 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 payments made by the Division 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.

  1. 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 Division.

  1. Effective April 1, 2021, any teacher receiving top-up benefits from the Division, as outlined above, must enter into a written agreement with the Division providing that:
  1. subject to extenuating personal circumstances, they will return to work and remain in the employ of the Division for at least the equivalent of one full school year (10 consecutive teaching months) following their return to work; and
  1. should they fail to return to work as provided above, they are, subject to extenuating personal circumstances, indebted to the Division for the full amount received from the Division as a top-up during the entire period of leave; or
  1. should they return to work as provided above, but fail to complete their work commitment, they are, subject to extenuating personal circumstances. indebted to the Division for a pro-rated amount based on the number of teaching days they have remaining on their return to work commitment.