The Alberta Teachers’ Association

A historical perspective on maternity leave

Did you know that a female teacher in the early half of the 1900s could be fired if she got pregnant, or that women in the 1960s were told when their maternity leave started and finished?

Today, teachers take it for granted that, if they become mothers, they will not only have a year of leave but that they will also receive money from Employment Insurance and their boards for a portion of that leave. That was not always the case. In fact, these benefits are relatively new to our collective agreements.

Through reviewing historical collective agreements, it appears the first language on maternity leaves appears at the beginning of the 1960s. Prior to this time, collective agreements contained language that allowed a superintendent to relieve a pregnant teacher of her duties and place her on unpaid leave if the superintendent deemed it to be in the best interest of the school. There was no protection for the pregnant teachers in collective agreements of the day.

One of earliest maternity leave clauses, from the 1961 collective agreement for Edmonton Public, states that such leaves were to be without pay and were subject to predetermined termination dates based on the time of year the leave started.

Since this first appearance in collective agreements, maternity leave language has changed slowly. It would take changes to legislation to bring about change.

In 1971 the federal government, under its Unemployment Insurance program, created the Maternity Leave Benefit that saw eligible mothers receiving 15 weeks of benefit, with eight weeks being prior and six weeks being after “confinement,” the term used in those days.

Claimants needed 20 weeks of insurable employment in the qualifying period (52 weeks before the benefit period) in order to qualify for 15 weeks of maternity benefits, to be taken eight weeks before and six weeks after “confinement.” However, women had to meet the “magic 10” rule — prove that 10 of their insurable weeks were from the 20 week period between the 31st and 50th weeks before the expected due date. This was to ensure that pregnant women did not enter the workforce solely for the purpose of drawing maternity benefits.

In 1976, the government changed the act to allow women to draw maternity benefits as early as eight weeks before the expected birth or as late as 17 weeks after the week of the birth. (This was to accommodate women who gave birth prematurely and those who were capable of working closer to the due date of the baby).

The next significant change at the federal level occurred in 1990 with the addition of a parental leave benefit that allowed a teacher to have an additional 10 weeks of income. In 2000, the parental benefit became 35 weeks.

Change by arbitration

Collective agreement language on maternity leaves changed with a number of arbitration rulings in the 1990s. In 1991, the case of Parcel vs. Red Deer Regional Hospital Board delivered a ruling that pregnant women were entitled to paid sick leave as with any illness and that it was discriminatory to require them to prepay for benefit premiums. This was the beginning of the Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) plan and the top-up language that is in most agreements today.

In 1996, Hutchings vs. Christ the Redeemer saw a ruling that a teacher could determine the start of the leave and the employer would have to pay the teacher for the two-week waiting period. In the 1997 case of McCaughen vs. Foothills School Division, an arbitrator ruled that the Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) plan must be calculated on the basis of 1/200 for each day the teacher would have taught if not for her medical leave.

Over the last 20 years, the bargaining process has brought about improvements to the maternity leave language within teachers’ collective agreements. Bargainers have improved upon the 17 weeks contained in the EI language with some boards having 18 weeks of paid maternity leave. Other collective agreements have managed to get paid benefits for the parental leave or a portion of it.

Currently, in 62 collective agreements in the province, there are 24 agreements with fixed plans (specifies number of guaranteed weeks and allows teachers to choose when their leave commences) and 38 agreements with health-related plans (requires a doctor’s note to take leave). In the last round of bargaining, many agreements had their SUB plans move from 95 per cent to 100 per cent of the teacher’s salary. Today, 38 of the 62 agreements are at 100 per cent whereas only 24 agreements are still at 95 per cent.

Maternity leave language in teacher collective agreements varies greatly in Alberta. As bargaining rounds continue, teachers will strive to improve clause language, parental benefits and adoption leaves.

Marg Preston is an executive staff officer in the Teacher Welfare program area of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.