For a Safe Maternity Experience program : Services Québec

To make your change of address, you can complete the online form or you can telephone to the office of the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail.

If you received indemnities during a part of the year, you must notify the Commission of your new address so that you will receive the RL-5 slip, which must be submitted with your income tax return.

The program For a Safe Maternity Experience, also known as the Preventive Withdrawal and Reassignment of a Pregnant or Breast-Feeding Worker program, is a preventive measure introduced under the Act respecting occupational health and safety . Its primary goal is to allow pregnant and nursing employees to continue working, in safe conditions.

Pregnant and nursing women whose working conditions constitute a hazard to their health or that of their unborn or nursing child have the right to be immediately assigned to other, non-hazardous, duties that are within their capabilities.

If the employer cannot modify the tasks related to the employee's position or assign her to another position, the employee is entitled to stop working temporarily and to receive benefits from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail.

An employee who ceases working due to preventive withdrawal retains all the advantages associated with her employment. An employee who is reassigned also retains all the advantages associated with her usual position, including the salary. The employer must reinstate the employee to her usual position at the end of her reassignment or preventive withdrawal.

Change of address
An employee who receives benefits from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail must inform the Commission of any change of address in order to keep her file up to date.

Clientele
Pregnant or nursing employees who work for an employer subject to the Act respecting occupational health and safety .

Employees not covered under the program
The following employees are not covered under the program:

an employee who is unable to work for health reasons not related to the job;
unincorporated self-employed workers,
domestic help working for an individual,
students in training,
volunteer workers,
women working outside Québec.

Also, a Supreme Court of Canada decision ruled that the Act respecting occupational health and safety , which provides for the preventive withdrawal of pregnant and nursing workers, does not apply to federal entities. Consequently, the provisions of the Safe Maternity program do not apply to employees of

businesses under federal jurisdiction, including the federal Crown;
corporations that are federal Crown agents.

Note
By federal Crown , we mean

the federal government and its departments;
certain entities that come directly under a federal department, such as CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada Post, Farm Credit Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Business Development Bank of Canada.

There is no preventive withdrawal program for employees who are not covered. They are subject to the Canada Labour Code .

Preventive withdrawal

During the first five working days the employee does not work (before the benefits period begins), she is entitled to her regular salary paid by her employer (for the days normally worked). The Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail does not reimburse the employer for the salary.
For the following 14 calendar days (only for the days normally worked), the employee is entitled to benefits equal to 90% of her net salary (gross salary minus deductions for income tax, Employment Insurance (EI), the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) and the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP)) paid by her employer. The Commission reimburses the employer for the amounts paid to the employee for each day or part of a day that she would normally have worked during those 14 days.
Thereafter, the Commission pays the employee benefits equal to 90% of her net income. Income is calculated on the basis of the salary provided for in the employment contract or the income for the last 12 months (under the benefits rule applied by the Commission), and on the basis of the employee's family situation, as reported under the income tax laws, and the deductions for income tax, EI, the QPP and the QPIP. Benefits stop four weeks before the expected birth date, or when the employee stops nursing her infant or when she is assigned to a position where she can work safely.

Payments
The last payment under the Safe Maternity program is made on a Saturday to harmonize with the first payment of the QPIP benefits, which is on a Sunday.

The end date for the payment of benefits may be adjusted if the employee's physician sends the Commission a document attesting a change in the expected birth date. The physician must send this document to the Commission no later than four weeks (28 days) before the expected birth date on the certificate.

Payment of benefits may be interrupted if the work-related danger ceases to exist temporarily or permanently (company closure, strike, seasonal work, etc.).

The benefits paid by the Commission are not taxable and cannot exceed the applicable maximum insurable income for the year.

Benefits can be received by direct deposit or by cheque.

Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP)
The employee must submit an application for Québec Parental Insurance Plan benefits to the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale when the Commission ceases to pay benefits.

If the employee is not eligible for the QPIP, the Commission will continue to pay benefits up to the date of birth.

Reassignment
The employee must receive her regular salary during reassignment. If the assignment is part-time or if the salary is less than what the employee was receiving for her usual position, the Commission will pay the difference in salary in accordance with established policy and on receipt of an application from the employer.

Reassignment may be offered by the employer at any time.

The For a Safe Maternity Experience program is in effect since 1981.

An Act respecting occupational health and safety , R.S.Q., chapter S-2.1
Regulation respecting the certificate issued for the preventive withdrawal and re-assignment of a pregnant or breast-feeding worker, chapter S-2.1, r. 2.2
Workers' Compensation Act , R.S.Q., chapter A-3
An Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases , R.S.Q., chapter A-3.001

For a Safe Maternity Experience program

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Clientele and requirements

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