›› Maternity Benefits
Pregnancy,
childbirth and the ensuing days of caring for a baby can be very
challenging. However, we live in a society that appreciates the
importance of that time period and how involved parents need to be
during the early years. This has resulted in very flexible maternity
benefits and parental leave options and benefits.
When I became pregnant for the first time, I was very sick and did not
deal well with pregnancy. I was working in a mailroom at the time and
this required that I be on my feet for as long as eight hours a day. I
lasted a little over three months and then found that I just had to get
off my feet. I ended up taking a job in a call centre where I could sit
for most of my shift which were usually limited to four hours rather
than eight.
By around the five month mark, I found that I was merely dragging
myself from my bed to work and back again. The company I was working
for decided to lay many of us off, so I ended up taking my maternity
leave early, after which point I had decided to become a stay-at-home
parent. Unfortunately, I never received any maternity benefits until
three months after my son's birth. This was due to a mistake on my
Record of Employment stating that I had quit, rather than been laid off.
By the time I had tracked down my previous employer and obtained the
corrected documentation, filled out the appropriate forms and allowed
time for them to be processed my son was three month's old and we were
in dire financial straits.
Finally, my maternity benefits kicked in and I received my long overdue
payments much to our relief. I finished up my one year of maternity
benefits entitlement and continued on as a stay-at-home parent until my
son was two.
Five years later I was pregnant again, however this time, I stuck it
out and worked right up until my due date. That way I would have a full
year of maternity leave after the new baby was born. This time I was
smart and had filed all the paperwork as soon as possible. I had no
difficulty being approved for maternity benefits and I received all
payments promptly.
As it turned out, my husband opted to take a portion of the maternity
leave quota as parental leave. I had again decided to be a stay-at-home
parent during the early years of our daughter's life, so a portion of
the time was spent with both parents at home. I was eligible for
special training for mothers wishing to start their own business and so
I was able to attend school during this time, while my husband took
over the stay-at-home parent role, on a part-time basis.
We are both very pleased with the maternity leave benefits available to
parents today and the opportunity this time has afforded us to be the
primary caregivers during our children's formative years.
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
