Parental Leave Policy Alberta

Employment standards laws of all jurisdictions allow employees to take unpaid parental leave. But because rules vary, it’s important to implement a parental leave policy that reflects the laws of your province. Here’s a template policy based on parental leave rules in Alberta.

  1. ENTITLEMENT TO PARENTAL LEAVE

ABC Company will grant unpaid parental leave to an employee as follows:

(a) Employees entitled to maternity leave under the Alberta Employment Standards Code (ESC) (other than a pregnant employee whose pregnancy ends other than as a result of a live birth within 16 weeks of the estimated due date) will be granted parental leave for a period of no more than 62 consecutive weeks immediately following the last day of maternity leave;

(b) A parent who has been employed by ABC for at least 90 days will be granted parental leave for a period of no more than 62 consecutive weeks within 78 weeks after the child’s birth;

(c) An adoptive parent who has been employed by ABC Company for at least 90 days will be granted parental leave for a period of no more than 62 consecutive weeks within 78 weeks after the child is placed with the adoptive parent for the purpose of adoption.

  1. SHARING OF PARENTAL LEAVE

If eligible employees are parents of the same child, parental leave may either be taken wholly by one of the employees or shared between them. Employees who intend to share parental leave must notify ABC Company of their intention to share parental leave. ABC Company is not required to grant parental leave to more than one employee at a time.

  1. WRITTEN NOTIFICATION OF LEAVE

Employees wishing to take parental leave under this Policy must give ABC Company at least 6 weeks’ written notice of the date they will start parental leave, unless they can’t comply because: (a) of the medical condition of the birth mother or child makes it impossible to provide 6 weeks’ notice; or (b) the date of the child’s placement with the adoptive parent is not foreseeable…