Maternity & Parental Leave
EI Calculator
Estimate your EI payments during maternity and parental leave, for birth parents, non-birthing parents, and adoptive parents. Compare standard vs extended leave, add employer top-up amounts, and see a week-by-week income schedule.
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EI benefit estimates are based on the 2026 federal EI program. Actual amounts determined by Service Canada. Quebec residents use QPIP · a separate program not covered here. Not financial or legal advice. Terms →
Understanding maternity & parental leave in Canada
How the EI system works for new parents, the key decisions to make before your leave.
Maternity benefits (15 weeks at 55%) are exclusively for the birthing parent to recover from pregnancy and birth. Parental benefits are separate and available to either or both parents after the birth or adoption. You can take both, back to back, for a combined maximum of 55 weeks (standard) or 84 weeks (extended).
Standard: 40 weeks total, 55% replacement rate, max $729/week. Extended: 69 weeks total, 33% replacement rate, max $437/week. The total dollar amount paid out is roughly equivalent, you choose more money per week (standard) or more time off (extended). You cannot change your choice once payments begin.
Both parents can receive parental benefits simultaneously or in sequence. Under standard leave, each parent has 5 weeks reserved that the other cannot claim. Under extended leave, each parent has 8 weeks reserved. Sharing allows both parents to maximize their combined leave time.
Many Canadian employers voluntarily top up EI to 75–100% of salary for a period. This is not legally required but is common in the public sector, finance, tech, and large corporations. Top-up payments are taxable income. Check your employment contract or HR policy before your leave begins.
The decision that trips up most new parents: standard or extended?
This is the one choice you cannot undo once your first payment lands, and the framing you will see almost everywhere is that "standard pays more money, extended gives more time." That is close, but not quite right, and the difference matters when you are budgeting a year of reduced income.
Here is what actually happens. Standard parental pays 55% of your insurable earnings for up to 40 weeks. Extended pays 33% for up to 69 weeks. Because extended stretches across so many more weeks, the total dollars can come out roughly equal, or in some cases the extended total is even slightly higher. What genuinely differs is the amount that arrives each week. Extended leave means living on about 60% of the weekly cheque that standard leave provides, for a much longer stretch. The real question is not "which pays more," it is "can my household run on $437 a week for a year and a half, or do I need $729 a week for a shorter period?"
There is also a cap that surprises higher earners. Benefits are calculated only on the first $68,900 of income (the 2026 maximum insurable earnings). Once your salary passes that line, your benefit stops growing. A parent earning $70,000 and a parent earning $150,000 receive the identical $729 per week on standard leave. If you are the higher earner, your replacement rate, the share of your real salary that EI covers, quietly shrinks the more you make.
Worked examples using real 2026 numbers
These are calculated with the exact 2026 EI rules this tool uses, so you can see how the pieces fit together before you run your own numbers above.
Weekly insurable earnings work out to $1,154, so the benefit is 55% of that, about $635 a week (below the $729 cap). On standard leave: 15 weeks maternity (14 paid after the one-week wait) plus 40 weeks parental gives roughly $34,300 over 55 weeks. On extended leave, the weekly amount drops to about $381, but across 69 parental weeks the total comes to roughly $35,200 over 84 weeks.
The counterintuitive part: extended actually pays slightly more in total here, not less. But it does so by spreading the money across 29 additional weeks at a much thinner $381 per week. Standard front-loads nearly the same money into a year, at $635 a week. This is exactly the "which pays more" myth, corrected.
Because the salary is above the $68,900 cap, the benefit maxes out. Maternity and standard parental both pay the ceiling of $729 a week, giving roughly $39,400 over 55 weeks. Extended pays the $437 ceiling for a total near $40,400 over 84 weeks.
Notice the replacement rate: on standard leave, $729 a week replaces about 42% of this parent's real $90,000 salary, not 55%, because the cap bites. On extended, it covers just 25%. For higher earners, an employer top-up is often the deciding factor in whether leave is financially workable at all.
The birth parent takes 15 weeks maternity plus 30 weeks parental (about $32,100), and the second parent takes the remaining 10 parental weeks at $729 (about $7,300). Together that reaches the full 40 standard parental weeks.
Here is the key rule sharing unlocks: a sole parent can claim at most 35 parental weeks. The other 5 are "use it or lose it," reserved for a second parent. If the second parent claims even a few weeks, the household captures all 40. Under extended leave the same logic applies, but with 8 reserved weeks. If one parent could take the entire leave alone, those reserved weeks simply vanish, so sharing is the only way to reach the full total.
Mistakes that cost new parents money
- Assuming maternity and parental benefits get clawed back. They do not. These are "special benefits" and are fully exempt from the EI repayment rule, even if your annual income exceeds the $86,125 threshold. Only regular EI (after a layoff) is subject to clawback. Many sites still get this wrong.
- Forgetting the one-week waiting period. Your first week of maternity leave is unpaid. Budget for 14 paid maternity weeks, not 15.
- Not setting aside tax. EI withholds only 10% federal tax at source, but your actual marginal rate is usually higher, especially if you worked a high-paying job for part of the year. Many parents get a surprise bill at tax time. Contributing to an RRSP during your leave year can offset this.
- Losing the reserved sharing weeks. If one parent takes the whole leave, the 5 (standard) or 8 (extended) weeks reserved for the second parent are forfeited. Even a token claim by the second parent captures them.
- Choosing extended without doing the weekly math. 18 months at home sounds appealing until you are living on $437 a week. Run your household budget against the weekly figure, not the total.
All figures use 2026 EI parameters: 55% maternity and standard parental rate, 33% extended rate, $68,900 maximum insurable earnings, $729 standard weekly maximum, $437 extended weekly maximum, and the $86,125 benefit repayment threshold. Rates are confirmed against ESDC and CRA sources as of 2026. Quebec residents use the separate QPIP program, which this tool displays automatically.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum EI maternity benefit in 2026?
The maximum EI maternity benefit in 2026 is $729 per week, based on the maximum insurable earnings of $68,900. To reach this maximum, your salary must be at least $68,900. Your benefit is calculated as 55% of your average weekly insurable earnings. If you earn $68,900 or more annually, your average weekly insurable earnings are $68,900 ÷ 52 = $1,325/week, and 55% of that is $729. If you earn less, your benefit is 55% of your actual weekly earnings. For extended parental leave, the maximum drops to $437/week (33% rate). These maximums apply to all provinces except Quebec, which uses the QPIP program with higher rates of up to 70%.
Can both parents take leave at the same time?
Yes, both parents can take leave simultaneously, but there are limits to how EI benefits are paid. For standard parental benefits (40 weeks total), both parents can receive benefits at the same time, but the combined total cannot exceed 40 weeks. Neither parent can receive more than 35 weeks individually when sharing. The same principle applies to extended parental leave (69 weeks total, 61 maximum per parent). The birth parent's maternity benefits (15 weeks) are separate and run independently. Many couples choose to overlap the birth parent's maternity leave with the other parent's parental leave so both are home together for the first weeks.
Do I need 600 hours to qualify?
Yes, to qualify for EI maternity and parental benefits, you need at least 600 insurable hours worked in the last 52 weeks (or since your last EI claim, whichever is shorter). This applies regardless of your province or the unemployment rate in your region (unlike regular EI where the hours required vary by region). Insurable hours include time worked for employers who deduct EI premiums from your pay. Self-employed individuals who have registered for EI self-employment benefits may also qualify. Part-time workers, contract workers, and those with multiple jobs all count their hours toward the 600-hour threshold.
Does the EI clawback apply to maternity or parental benefits?
No. This is the single most common misconception, and many calculator sites still get it wrong. Maternity, parental, sickness, compassionate care, and family caregiver benefits are all classified as "special benefits" and are fully exempt from the EI repayment (clawback) provision. The clawback only applies to regular EI benefits, the kind you receive after a layoff. So even if your net income for the year exceeds the 2026 threshold of $86,125, you will not repay any of your maternity or parental benefits. The only exception is if you also collected regular EI in the same tax year after a job loss, in which case only the regular portion could be subject to repayment. Your maternity and parental benefits are still taxable income and must be reported, but they are never clawed back. This is confirmed directly by the Canada Revenue Agency's benefit repayment rules.
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