Splitting parental leave – one parent taking non-consecutive leaves

[NFinnerty@nhcwater.com]

#97065

Forum: Community

We have an employee in BC, who has requested three, non-consecutive, parental leaves for the same leave/birth. The leaves fall within the allocated, extended timeline under EI rules. I understand that EI provides for this option, but is it an entitlement or can the employer refuse it, if it operational problematic?

[Haley O’Halloran]

#97066

Great question — this touches on the interaction between federal EI rules (which set eligibility for benefits) and provincial employment standards law (which sets leave entitlements and obligations for employers).

EI Benefits vs. Employment Standards

EI Parental Benefits (federal, under Service Canada):
Employees can choose standard or extended parental benefits and may divide them into non-consecutive periods within the 78-week (extended) or 52-week (standard) window, depending on which option they elected. This is about benefit payments, not an automatic right to time off work.

Job-Protected Leave (provincial, under BC Employment Standards Act [ESA]):
In BC, employees are entitled to up to 62 consecutive weeks of unpaid, job-protected parental leave, to be taken immediately after pregnancy leave (if applicable) or within 78 weeks of the child’s birth/placement. The ESA states that parental leave must be taken in one continuous block. The Act does not provide for splitting it into multiple segments.

Employer’s Role

You are legally required to provide one continuous block of parental leave, as outlined in the ESA.

While EI may allow benefit payments over several segments, that doesn’t create a corresponding employment entitlement.

Therefore, if the employee requests three separate leaves, you are not obligated to grant that structure.

You may allow it as an accommodation or by mutual agreement, but it is within your discretion. If granting multiple leaves causes operational difficulties, you can reasonably decline and require the leave to be taken as one block.

My recommendations

-Communicate clearly with the employee that EI rules and ESA entitlements are not identical.

-If you are open to flexibility, you may approve split leaves as an employer policy decision, but you are not legally required to.

-Always confirm in writing which arrangement you and the employee agree upon, to avoid confusion with Service Canada’s benefit rules.

In BC, the statutory entitlement is to one continuous parental leave. The employer can refuse multiple, non-consecutive leaves if they are operationally problematic. EI’s flexibility in benefit payment does not override provincial employment standards.

I hope this helps!
-HRInsider Staff

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