Canada Maternity Leave See Beh SOLID!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>PAPee go fly kite!

Canada streets ahead on maternity leave

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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THANK you to Mr Yeh Siang Hui for penning such a mathematically precise letter ('Maternity leave not a perk', Aug 14) in response to other letters by working mothers. A total of 120 units of work per employee per year. One becomes pregnant, the other does not. One is productive, the other is not. A simple rationale to Mr Yeh. I say a simplistic example indeed.


Mr Yeh forgets there are many circumstances that require an employee, and even an employer, to be off work. Sickness, vacation, family emergencies (involving children or otherwise), pet emergencies, delays arriving home from abroad, accidents - the list goes on. How does one tabulate these reasons against those of childbirth? Can ushering in a new human being, most likely a future taxpayer, be such a meaningless event, that one counts dollars and cents in the three measly months of maternity leave currently provided?

Mr Yeh says there is nothing discriminatory in corporate practices that sideline a pregnant, and therefore female, employee. I beg to differ. Childbearing falls squarely on the shoulders of women. Conception does not. Society cannot suggest that women count for less. Thus, to regard a female employee bearing a child as compromising 'her level of accountability' is shortsighted.

Maternity leave is hardly a holiday. It is the bare minimum for a new mother to nurture, care, comfort, breastfeed and get to know her baby without the expectation to show up for work at 9am the next day. And let us not forget that postpartum, the new mother requires time to recover physically, mentally and emotionally. I cannot express how fortunate I have been. My personal experience has been so different from the sad stories I hear from my friends who are working mothers in Singapore. They have been either blatantly passed over for promotion, fired or scared into having no more children. Tell me that is not discriminatory.

In Toronto, Canada where I have lived for the past seven years, I have been given a year off, with benefits each time I had a child, without fear of ever losing my job. And without even a hint of irony, it is my employer who reminds me that my family comes first, not work. In the year I am away, a replacement may be hired or some reshuffling of responsibilities may take place, but at no time have I ever heard the whingeing and whining that commonly pervades workplaces in Singapore. And at no time can my employer ever use my pregnancy as an excuse to pass me over or have me fired. These are governed by law and the penalties are severe. (not applicable to Singapore since Singapore is err..uniquely Singapore?) I can work and have children as long as I please. The mindset of the petty Singaporean (govt!) has to change before the tired working mother is given the credit long overdue to her.

Ho Liying (Ms) Toronto, Canada

 

[Big Sexy]

i will rather pay less tax

Ho Liying (Ms) Toronto, Canada

 

[Leongsam]

And at no time can my employer ever use my pregnancy as an excuse to pass me over or have me fired.

What a crap country Canada must be for enterprising young businessmen who want to start companies.

Imagine this scenario :

I put off getting married and start a family in order to get my business up and running.

I hire a promising young female to help me achieve my goal. A couple of months later, she gets fucked without protection and ends up pregnant. She then disappears forever and I have to hire someone else to take her place.

I now have two people on my payroll but only one actually does anything for me.

I can't think of a more unfair system. Canada definitely is off my radar till the law is changed.

 

[tonychat]

I hire a promising young female to help me achieve my goal. A couple of months later, she gets fucked without protection and ends up pregnant. She then disappears forever and I have to hire someone else to take her place.

Dun hire woman.

 

[Zombie]

PRC MMs deserve more respect, that they get paid only when they provide a service.

 

[chuckyworld]

What a crap country Canada must be for enterprising young businessmen who want to start companies.

Imagine this scenario :

I put off getting married and start a family in order to get my business up and running.

I hire a promising young female to help me achieve my goal. A couple of months later, she gets fucked without protection and ends up pregnant. She then disappears forever and I have to hire someone else to take her place.

I now have two people on my payroll but only one actually does anything for me.

I can't think of a more unfair system. Canada definitely is off my radar till the law is changed.

I do agree with you, squeezing every single drop of blood from the employee we can get out of them.

After all the govt do encourage company to fire female employee who get pregnant.

You have to love the PAP for that, Singapore need to have more babies and help cut employers expenses by hiring more FT.:

NS and unemployments for Singaporeans Jobs are for FT.

 

[middaydog]

_ for the past seven years, I have been given a year off, with benefits each time I had a child, _ > >

tell the complete storey, do the benefits equal full monthly pay ?

 

[chupacabra]

Its either being with the employers or being on the side of empolyees. Since there are more employees in the world and there are no shortage of people who wants to get rich in being their own boses, I guess this is a excellent law.

No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to be an employer buddy.

 

[Leongsam]

No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to be an employer buddy.

That may be the case but it the idiotic canadian system rewards employees while penalising employers. It is put in place simply because employees outnumber employers when it comes to the ballet box. It is definitely not sound economic policy.

There is so much talk of "benefits" that employees are entitled to while no mention is made of the responsibilities that employees are supposed to shoulder which is to perform an honest days work for an honest days pay.

While this system is great for the masses, it does nothing to reward hard work and enterprise by talented individuals and it is therefore not the sort of system I would want my family to grow up under.

The Singapore system is far superior. The PAP recognises the fact that employees are mere digits while employers are the ones who create wealth for the country.

Employees are expendable. Employers are not.

 

[chuckyworld]

_ for the past seven years, I have been given a year off, with benefits each time I had a child, _ > >

tell the complete storey, do the benefits equal full monthly pay ?

It is any time better than Singapore.

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/lp/spila/wlb/wfp/11Maternity_Leave.shtml#62

MATERNITY LEAVE

* Reference to Legislated Standards
* Anti-Discrimination Clauses Related to Pregnancy and Maternity Leave
* Eligibility and notification requirements
* Start/end dates
o Decision at the employee’s discretion
o Decision by mutual agreement
o Preset dates
o Employer right to require the start of a leave
* Length of maternity leave
o Initial leave
o Extended maternity leave
o Interrupted leave
* Maternity Benefits (Allowance)
o Terms and conditions
o Amount and Duration of Maternity Benefits
* Benefits and Seniority Protection
o Seniority retention and accrual
o Preservation of benefits
o Notification of job vacancies, promotions, and training opportunities
* Return to work (Job protection)
o Notification
o Medical certificate
o Right to reinstatement after leave
o Additional protection against layoffs
o Special Arrangements Following Return to Work
* Interrupted Pregnancies / Still-birth
o Miscarriage
o Stillborn child


(06674) Maternity allowance payments made in accordance with the SUB Plan will consist of the following: (…)

(ii) for each week that the employee receives a pregnancy benefit pursuant to Section 22 of the Employment Insurance Act , the difference between the gross weekly amount of the EI benefit she is eligible to receive and ninety-three per cent (93%) of her weekly rate of pay less any other monies earned during this period which may result in a decrease in EI benefits to which she would have been eligible if no extra monies had been earned during this period.
(06747) Pursuant to the Supplemental Employment Benefit (SUB) Plan, the maternity leave allowance will consist of:

(i) Two weeks at 85% of the employee’s basic pay;

(ii) 15 additional weekly payments, equivalent to the difference between the employment insurance gross benefits and any other earnings received by the employee and 85% of the employee’s basic pay.
(08783) a) ...for the first two (2) weeks an employee shall receive her weekly rate of pay; b) for up to a maximum of fifteen (15) additional weeks, payments equivalent to the difference between the Unemployment Insurance benefits the employee is eligible to receive and her weekly rate of pay; c) all other time as may be provided under this Article shall be on a leave without pay basis...
(03750) The Corporation shall pay the employee on maternity leave:

i) for each of the two (2) weeks of the waiting period required under the unemployment insurance plan, an allowance in the amount of 95% of her basic weekly rate of pay;

ii) for each of the fifteen (15) weeks for which she receives unemployment insurance benefits, a top-up allowance equal to the difference between 95% of her basic weekly rate of pay and the unemployment insurance benefits that she is receiving or is entitled to receive;

iii) for each of the three (3) subsequent weeks of her maternity leave, an allowance equal to 95% of her basic weekly rate of pay until the end of the twentieth (20th) week of maternity leave.
(04498) [SUB] payments [will be] equivalent to the difference between the sum of the weekly employment insurance benefits the employee is eligible to receive and any other earnings received by the employee, and ninety-three percent (93%) of the actual weekly rate for her classification which she was receiving on the last day worked prior to the commencement of the pregnancy leave, including any retroactive salary adjustment to which she may become entitled.

As can be seen in the previous examples, a number of collective agreements also stipulate that the employer will provide employees on maternity leave with an allowance to offset the two-week waiting period for EI benefits. Such a provision is usually included as part of a more comprehensive SUB plan, but it may be a stand-alone clause. Notice, in the last example below, that part of the benefit is paid upon return to work. This might have been designed as an incentive to encourage pregnant employees to resume their employment.
(04770) For Pregnancy leave, the Board shall compensate the teacher through an Employment Insurance Commission approved Supplemental Unemployment Benefit plan, for the two-week waiting period, equal to the Employment Insurance Commission benefit that would be payable to the teacher during each week of the benefit period.
(01922) During the first two (2) weeks of maternity leave an employee shall receive a supplementary employee benefit (SUB) based on ninety-five (95) percent of the weekly wage rate up to the UIC max subject to approval of the Unemployment Insurance Commission.
(09925) Employees eligible for the leave with pay will receive ninety-five percent (95%) of pay at their actual rate of pay (including any retroactive pay increases) for the two (2) weeks of Maternity/Adoption Leave coinciding with the EI waiting period after the employee submits proof that she has applied and qualified for EI benefits. The normal deductions from pay for the two (2) week period shall be made.

The employees, on their first payroll deposit after returning to work, will receive five percent (5%) of the salary they were earning prior to the Maternity/Adoption Leave, for a two (2) week period.

In some instances, SUB plans offer eligible employees a fixed amount per week, irrespective of their salary level.
(04760) A Teacher on Pregnancy Leave who applies for and is in receipt of E.I. benefits will be eligible under the terms of the SUB plan, to receive $75.00 per week for the next fifteen (15) weeks.

 

[Leongsam]

It is any time better than Singapore.

Give me the Singapore system anytime! Why should I, as an employer, pay anything to anyone who is not contributing to my business?

To make matters worse, the Canadian system does not require that the pregnancy be a result of legitimate sexual union between a husband and a wife. The woman could be some alcoholic party slut who has fucked so many men she does not even know who the father is.

 

[chuckyworld]

Give me the Singapore system anytime! Why should I, as an employer, pay anything to anyone who is not contributing to my business?

>>To make matters worse, the Canadian system does not require that the pregnancy be a result of legitimate sexual union between a husband and a wife. The woman could be some alcoholic party slut who has fucked so many men she does not even know who the father is.

<<

It Happen anywhere in the world, Singapore does has it fair share of SPG slut.

PAP should follow the Canadian system, Singapore is in danger of having less babies= equal no slaves ( NS) to whip around or protect MIW.

 

[PAP_agent]

Humans are selfish by nature and will take advantage of any system that favours them. Canada's system stands to be abused at great expense to companies. As a business-oriented and productive nation, we cannot afford that.

Give me the Singapore system anytime! Why should I, as an employer, pay anything to anyone who is not contributing to my business?

To make matters worse, the Canadian system does not require that the pregnancy be a result of legitimate sexual union between a husband and a wife. The woman could be some alcoholic party slut who has fucked so many men she does not even know who the father is.

 

[chupacabra]

At the end of the day employers benefit too. Are they not human beings with family members? You mean to say everyone in an employer's family are employers themselves?
Cmon be realistic man, Canadian employers are more or less greatful that their goverment takes care of their children and their daughters and sons will be glad to work for their own fathers some day. Does your children wants to work for you?

 

[chupacabra]

Humans are selfish by nature and will take advantage of any system that favours them. Canada's system stands to be abused at great expense to companies. As a business-oriented and productive nation, we cannot afford that.

The only reason big business thrive here in singapore is because of monopoly.

Knowing sinkees are paid peanuts, do you think NTUC fairprice will survive here if a wholesale factory price company like the ones found in canada were to set up shop? Selling cheap under a dollar everyday items.

 

[mickell1972]

Canada gives 1 year maternity leave? Cool. Same as Sweden

Will the same ever happen in singapore? Extremely highly unlikely.

Maybe not even in our lifetime :p

 

[Leongsam]

At the end of the day employers benefit too. Are they not human beings with family members? You mean to say everyone in an employer's family are employers themselves?
Cmon be realistic man, Canadian employers are more or less greatful that their goverment takes care of their children and their daughters and sons will be glad to work for their own fathers some day. Does your children wants to work for you?

Being an employee is fine as long as one recognises the fact that along with benefits come responsibilities to do a good job to justify the salary earned.

If a female employee wants to start a family, she should do the honorable thing and resign so as not to burden her employer with additional overheads during her long absence. She can always choose to return to the job market at a later date.

The problem with most employees is the want to have their cake and eat it too and it is the employers who have to shoulder the costs.

 

[chupacabra]

Employers and the PAP are hyprocrits when it comes to employee benefits.
They want to squeeze their employees but at the same time they want their very own children to demand everything in life. That is why most PAP mps have their children overseas at school or work. They know that their policies here will make their children suffer therefore suffering themselves.

 

[soIsee]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>PAPee go fly kite!

Canada streets ahead on maternity leave

</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>




<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THANK you to Mr Yeh Siang Hui for penning such a mathematically precise letter ('Maternity leave not a perk', Aug 14) in response to other letters by working mothers. A total of 120 units of work per employee per year. One becomes pregnant, the other does not. One is productive, the other is not. A simple rationale to Mr Yeh. I say a simplistic example indeed.


Mr Yeh forgets there are many circumstances that require an employee, and even an employer, to be off work. Sickness, vacation, family emergencies (involving children or otherwise), pet emergencies, delays arriving home from abroad, accidents - the list goes on. How does one tabulate these reasons against those of childbirth? Can ushering in a new human being, most likely a future taxpayer, be such a meaningless event, that one counts dollars and cents in the three measly months of maternity leave currently provided?

Mr Yeh says there is nothing discriminatory in corporate practices that sideline a pregnant, and therefore female, employee. I beg to differ. Childbearing falls squarely on the shoulders of women. Conception does not. Society cannot suggest that women count for less. Thus, to regard a female employee bearing a child as compromising 'her level of accountability' is shortsighted.

Maternity leave is hardly a holiday. It is the bare minimum for a new mother to nurture, care, comfort, breastfeed and get to know her baby without the expectation to show up for work at 9am the next day. And let us not forget that postpartum, the new mother requires time to recover physically, mentally and emotionally. I cannot express how fortunate I have been. My personal experience has been so different from the sad stories I hear from my friends who are working mothers in Singapore. They have been either blatantly passed over for promotion, fired or scared into having no more children. Tell me that is not discriminatory.

In Toronto, Canada where I have lived for the past seven years, I have been given a year off, with benefits each time I had a child, without fear of ever losing my job. And without even a hint of irony, it is my employer who reminds me that my family comes first, not work. In the year I am away, a replacement may be hired or some reshuffling of responsibilities may take place, but at no time have I ever heard the whingeing and whining that commonly pervades workplaces in Singapore. And at no time can my employer ever use my pregnancy as an excuse to pass me over or have me fired. These are governed by law and the penalties are severe. (not applicable to Singapore since Singapore is err..uniquely Singapore?) I can work and have children as long as I please. The mindset of the petty Singaporean (govt!) has to change before the tired working mother is given the credit long overdue to her.

Ho Liying (Ms) Toronto, Canada

In reply to Ms Ho Liying of Toronto...yeah, sure you go fly kite....to give such maternity benefits...what is the percentage of income tax the peasants over there are paying?

 

[chupacabra]

Do you know how much money can one earn after tax and on a simple blue collar job in Canada? Do you know that 18 year old in Canada can own a car a live quite comfortably in their own rental apartment working at a fast food joint in Canada after tax. Now in sinkapore, without tax for almost all blue collar jobs, what can you afford while working at Mac???? You are kidding your self