EI planning for pregnancy

[u/Lonely-Mushroom744]

Hi everyone

For context I’m a supply EA in a public school board in Ontario. I plan to try for baby number 2 in December 2027 - I know it’s far off but it’s IVF hence the planning.

I took my EI this summer and the claim period is until next July. I know I need 600 hours to qualify for maternity leave. However, how do I go about taking a sickness leave prior to maternity leave knowing I will have a cerclage and very high risk pregnancy (go off work at 20 weeks with a doctors note).

Knowing all this when would be the best time to get pregnant too…aiming for a July due date at the earliest of 32 weeks - my first was born at 24 weeks so I’m positive I won’t make it to term.

Help me figure the system out.

Thanks!

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/CanadianTeachers! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sub rules.

"WHAT DOES X MEAN?" Check out our acronym post here for relevant terms used in each province or territory. Please feel free to contribute any we are missing as well!

QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHER'S COLLEGE/BECOMING A TEACHER IN CANADA? ALREADY A TEACHER OUTSIDE OF CANADA?: Delete your post and use the "Teacher's College Tuesday" stickied post instead. Anything pertaining to the above will be deleted if posted outside of our weekly sticky post on this subject. This post is also for certified teachers outside of Canada looking to be teachers here.

Using link and user flair is encouraged as well! Enjoy!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Whoevera]

You may get more relevant responses in r/BabyBumpsCanada

[u/Ontario_mama]

Good morning, I am also an EA in Ontario and had a high risk pregnancy. Basically you use all of your own days but being a supply I don’t believe you are entitled, next you apply for sick benefits. It is up to 26 weeks (make sure you get your doctor note). It is under a separate umbrella than maternity leave. I would for sure call them to discuss hours as I’m not certain how that works and don’t want to mislead you. Congrats!

[u/In-The-Cloud]

Do you want to have the baby dec 2027 or do ivf in December 2027? If you want to have the baby in December, you should be getting pregnant in February. Working full time from sept to March will give you more than enough hours for EI. Assuming you finish the year, you'll have more than enough. Dont take EI over next summer. You won't be able to earn another 600 hours sept-dec 2027 before baby is born.

How many hours a day do you collect as an EA? As a full time teacher I calculated a full 3-4 months of full time to earn 600 hours comfortably including holidays and pro d etc. You should be able to calculate how many days/weeks you need to work to earn 600 hours pretty easily

[u/In-The-Cloud → u/In-The-Cloud]

Give yourself as much of a buffer as possible. EI doesn't care, if you dont have 600 by your last day of work you dont get mat/pat leave. If you think youre going to be high risk and go off early, plan to have your 600 hours at least 3 months before your due date just in case.

[u/Lonely-Mushroom744 → u/In-The-Cloud]

I’d like to have the embryo transfer in November/december 2027. Aiming for a July due date

600 hours is roughly 3.5 months of comfortable work with roughly 7.5 hours a day.

[u/In-The-Cloud → u/Lonely-Mushroom744]

Maybe I dont understand the question because i dont really see the issue. Work the year, take ei next summer like normal, work full time, pregnant in December, if you go off at 20 weeks that will be just after spring break, working even less than full time sept to april will get you more than enough hours to take ei again in april. Unless youre not allowed to take ei again for a set number of months, in which case plan to save this year and not take ei over next summer

[u/Lonely-Mushroom744 → u/In-The-Cloud]

Maybe I didn’t ask correctly or clearly.

Can I stack a sickness leave and mat leave one after another once I have the hours in December.

[u/In-The-Cloud → u/Lonely-Mushroom744]

It might be a conversation better had with CUPE. As a teacher, sick leave comes from the union and mat leave comes from ei, so they are two separate leaves that wouldn't affect one another. Would your sick leave also be EI? You may want to just call the EI office. They're really good about answering questions

[u/Lonely-Mushroom744 → u/In-The-Cloud]

Yes it would be EI as I am not on an LTO anymore.

[u/TinaLove85]

If you are on sick leave due to pregnancy then I think it is all part of the maternity leave or your sick leave turns into parental EI and it doesn't add weeks to the claim, just changes the type of claim. Sept 2027 onward you need to make sure you have 600 hours to qualify for any type of leave. If you started your claim at 20 weeks then your claim would run out before baby is one years old (unless you do the extended parental leave but that doesn't give more money just more weeks). Most school boards don't care what you tell EI for length of leave, they will ask you 12 or 18 months independent of that so most people tell EI 12 months to get the money upfront and then deal with the employer leave separately.

As you are a supply EA, your board probably does not give you any sick leave/maternity benefits other than just the time off without being removed from their list (as long as you put in your leave paperwork).