Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Maternity leave payroll comes down to three jobs: issue a Record of Employment, stop regular pay unless you’ve agreed to top it up, and deduct the right amounts from any top-up you do pay. Service Canada pays the EI benefit directly, at 55% of average insurable weekly earnings up to $729 a week in 2026. You don’t run that money through payroll.
What does the employer do when leave starts?
File the ROE first. The Service Canada guide gives a 5 calendar day deadline for paper ROEs, counted from the first day of the interruption of earnings. Electronic ROEs follow the pay period: 5 calendar days after a weekly, biweekly or twice-monthly period ends. Monthly payrolls use the earlier of 5 days after the period ends or 15 days after the interruption starts.
Pick the code with care. Code F is for a person who is pregnant or has recently given birth and is leaving for maternity leave. Code P is for parental or adoption leave. A parent who takes both will usually have two separate breaks, so expect to think about the code twice.
Then stop regular pay on the payroll system and keep the employee’s file open. That last part matters because the same person comes back.
What should you do before the leave begins?
A short list saves a lot of scrambling later. Picture Priya in Winnipeg, who tells you in March that she’s due in August.
- Confirm her last day of work and her last day of insurable earnings.
- Work out any vacation pay that’s owing, and check how your province wants it handled.
- Decide, in writing, whether you’ll offer a top-up and for how many weeks.
- Tell her to apply to Service Canada right away, since waiting can cost her benefits.
- Agree how you’ll stay in touch, and who covers her work.
None of that is complicated. It’s mostly about not leaving it to the last week.
What do the EI maternity and parental benefits look like?
Your employee applies to Service Canada. You only need the facts below to answer questions and to plan a top-up.
| Item | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| Maternity benefit weeks | Up to 15 |
| Standard parental | Up to 35 weeks, 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, maximum $729 a week |
| Extended parental | Up to 61 weeks, 33%, maximum $437 a week |
| Hours needed | 600 insured hours in the last 52 weeks or since the last claim |
| Earnings drop needed | More than 40% for at least one week |
For a sense of scale, 600 hours is roughly 15 weeks of full-time work at 40 hours a week, so most people who’ve held a job for a few months already qualify.
Quebec works differently. Residents get their benefits through the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, and Revenu Quebec runs it. Everything on this page about EI benefits applies outside Quebec.
Do you have to pay anything during the leave?
No. Paying a top-up is a choice, not a payroll duty, and plenty of small employers pay nothing beyond the final cheque. What you owe is the paperwork: the ROE on time, accurate records, and a job to come back to under your province’s employment standards.
If you do decide to top up, put the plan in writing, with the weeks, the amount and the conditions. A plain letter beats a handshake when somebody asks questions a year later.
How is a top-up taxed on payroll?
A top-up is whatever you pay on top of the EI benefit, or during the EI waiting period. Nothing forces you to pay one. If you do, the CRA’s parental leave page says to deduct CPP and income tax from it, unless it is paid under a qualifying supplementary unemployment benefit plan. EI premiums come off too, unless two conditions hold. The top-up plus the EI benefit must not go above the employee’s normal weekly gross pay. And the top-up must not cut into banked sick leave, vacation credits or a retiring allowance.
Service Canada also says the plan doesn’t need registering for this purpose, but you must keep a record of the start date and proof that both conditions are met. Its page on supplementing maternity and parental benefits sets out the rule.
Take a made-up case. Her best weeks averaged $1,000 a week, so EI pays 55%, which is $550. Topping her up by $450 brings the weekly total to exactly $1,000. That doesn’t exceed her usual pay, which is what the first condition asks. Over the full 15 weeks of maternity benefits, that top-up would cost you 15 x $450, or $6,750. You’d still deduct CPP and tax from the $450 unless a qualifying plan applies, so check which side of that line you sit on before the first cheque.
Can you test payroll numbers before the leave starts?
Yes, for the ordinary pay before and after. The payroll deductions calculator shows CPP, EI and tax for a regular pay period, and the payroll remittance calculator shows what you send to the CRA on top of it. On $3,000 biweekly in Ontario it comes to $961.03 per period, with $228.41 of that your share of CPP and EI.
Both tools assume steady pay for a full year. They won’t model a leave, a top-up or a partial year. Treat them as a check on normal pay, not on the leave cheque.
Two other items can land in the final pay before leave starts. Unused vacation pay is one, and the vacation pay calculator works out the usual amounts. How vacation accrues during leave depends on the province, so check your employment standards office.
What goes wrong most often?
Late ROEs are the big one. The employee can’t finish a claim without it, and the delay is on you. A wrong code is next. Third, a top-up that quietly breaks the 100% limit, which means EI is owed on it.
Some things this page doesn’t answer: how much job-protected leave an employee gets, and what a province requires you to keep paying into a benefit plan. Those are provincial rules and they differ. Whether your own plan counts as a supplementary unemployment benefit plan is a question for the CRA’s page.
If the employee is weighing what they’ll live on, send them to the take-home pay calculator for their normal pay, then to Service Canada for the benefit itself.
Our sources
The benefit rates and eligibility come from Service Canada‘s EI maternity and parental pages for 2026. The ROE deadlines and codes come from its ROE guide. The top-up deductions come from the CRA parental leave page. Payroll examples come from our own calculators. All of it was checked on 30 September 2026, and this site has no connection with the CRA or any government.
Frequently asked questions
Does the employer pay the EI maternity benefit?
No. Service Canada pays it to the employee. The employer issues the Record of Employment and decides whether to add a top-up.
Which ROE code is used for maternity leave?
Code F, for a person who is pregnant or has recently given birth and is leaving for maternity leave. Parental or adoption leave uses code P.
How much is the EI maternity benefit in 2026?
It is 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, up to $729 a week, for up to 15 weeks.
Do I deduct CPP and tax from a top-up?
Per the CRA, yes, unless it is paid under a qualifying supplementary unemployment benefit plan. EI is not deducted only if both CRA conditions are met.
How do benefits work in Quebec?
Quebec residents receive maternity and parental benefits through the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, not EI.
All payroll and salary calculators
- Canadian tax credits and government benefits explained
The difference between tax credits and benefits in Canada, how they're worked out from your return, and the calculators for the ones people claim most