Employer top-ups

Excerpts from the Daily article:

In 2008, one in five mothers (more than 51,000) who received maternity or parental benefits from either the federal Employment Insurance (EI) or Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) also collected top-up payments from their employers. This proportion has remained stable over the past decade.

After the arrival of their babies, most employed mothers receive EI or QPIP benefits that replace a portion of their previous earnings. Some employers provide parents on leave with payments from a Supplemental Unemployment Benefit plan, commonly known as a "top-up."

The top-up for these mothers averaged $300 per week. As a result, in 2008, employers paid more than $290 million for this discretionary benefit for mothers on leave.

These supplemental benefits lasted an average of 19 weeks, which has remained constant since 2000. Even though the duration of parental benefits increased from 10 to 35 weeks starting in 2001, there was no corresponding increase in the duration of top-ups. Thus, the top-up period is shorter than the duration of public benefits for most recipients.

Mothers working in the public sector were significantly more likely than those in the private sector to receive an employer top-up, and for a longer average period of time. About 48% of those in the public sector received a top-up for an average of 22 weeks. This compares with 8% of those in the private sector for an average of 12 weeks.

Mothers working in large companies of more than 500 employees were nearly three times more likely to be offered top-up payments than those in smaller companies. Women in Quebec were much more likely to receive a top-up than those living elsewhere, as were those with a wage of at least $20 per hour.