How does Canada support bereaved parents?
Susie Erjavec Parker
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New Zealand's Parliament has passed legislation giving mothers and their partners the right to paid leave following a miscarriage or still birth, becoming one of the few countries in the world to do so.
The bereavement allowance, passed unanimously in Parliament late on March 24, gives employees three days' leave when a pregnancy ends with a stillbirth without having to tap into sick leave.
ut what does this mean for Canadian employees? Yes, there is similar support here for expectant parents but we could do better.
From HR Reporter: If a termination of pregnancy occurs as of the first day of the 20th week of pregnancy, the worker is entitled to maternity leave, without pay, for a maximum of 20 weeks. If the miscarriage or the termination of pregnancy occurred before Jan. 1, 2021, the leave shall end not later than 18 weeks after the event. MORE HERE: https://www.hrreporter.com/.../does-canada-need.../354338...
But what if it's a miscarriage and no one even knew you were pregnant? That is where it can get tricky. One expectant mom shared her story about grief and the workplace in early January in this CBC article and it's relevant to this new legislation from NZ. According to the article, "While some employers offer sick days, short-term disability or bereavement leave to help an employee recover, there are no federal regulations providing paid time off for earlier losses." MORE HERE: https://www.cbc.ca/.../research-stillbirth-miscarriage...
So we need to do better. Both legislation-wise and HR-wise for grieving parents, especially non-birthing partners.
Employers, now would be a great time to piggy-back on this topic and share proactively what is in place at your workplace for your employees in case of this event. Thank you to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre's Pregnancy and Infant Loss Network.