EI maternity & parental leave calculator

EI maternity benefits pay 55% of your average weekly insurable earnings, for up to 15 weeks. In 2026 earnings count up to $68,900 a year, so the most you can receive is $729 a week, before tax.

Standard parental benefits pay 55% of earnings, up to $729 a week, for up to 35 weeks for one parent. Extended parental benefits pay 33%, up to $437 a week, for up to 61 weeks. Extended spreads a similar amount of money over more weeks. Both parents must choose the same option, and you can't switch once payments start.

Shared between parents, standard parental benefits go up to 40 weeks and extended up to 69 weeks. One parent still can't take more than 35 (standard) or 61 (extended), so the extra 5 or 8 weeks are use-it-or-lose-it for the other parent. Maternity weeks are separate and only for the person giving birth.

Generally, you need 600 hours of insurable work in the 52 weeks before your claim (or since your last claim, if that's shorter), and your regular weekly earnings must have dropped by more than 40% for at least a week. Self-employed people can qualify if they registered for EI special benefits.

Yes. There's 1 unpaid waiting week before benefits begin. You serve it only once if you claim maternity and then parental benefits, and when parents share parental benefits for the same child, only one of them serves it.

Under Ontario's Employment Standards Act, a birth parent can take up to 17 weeks of pregnancy leave and then up to 61 weeks of parental leave. Other parents can take up to 63 weeks of parental leave. You need to have worked for your employer for at least 13 weeks, and the leave itself is unpaid — EI is what pays you.