Quebecers call for parental leave reform after being denied EI [Video]

Clarisse Zelmat was only weeks back from maternity leave when she got laid off, and the bad news piled on when she was rejected from employment insurance.

“Two days before Christmas, they told me, ‘Hey, you can’t because you just came back from maternity leave, and it’s the same pool of money,’” she said.

In the current system, a worker must bank a specific number of hours to make a new claim. But most people returning from parental leave can’t meet that requirement.

It took Zelmat six months to find a new job, and she says she “would have been screwed” if it wasn’t for her partner’s financial support.

Every year, 3,000 women find themselves laid off after parental leave in Canada, according to labour lawyer Gabriel Pelletier.

“It’s an issue that affects women disproportionately. And we have to find a solution to make sure that if that happens, they …