If you believe that your work endangers your health and that of your unborn or nursing baby, consult your physician, describing your working conditions (tasks, movements, working positions, exposure to products, etc.). Depending on these conditions, you may be eligible for the Safe Maternity Experience program.
Under this program, you may be assigned to risk-free tasks that you are reasonably able to perform. If your employer does not propose a reassignment, you have the right to stop working temporarily and receive compensation.
The purpose of the For a Safe Maternity Experience program is to enable pregnant and nursing women to continue working.
Under this program, a worker who performs tasks that are a hazard to her health or to that of her unborn or breast-feeding child may, on the recommendation of her physician, ask her employer to:
- modify her duties or adapt her workstation, or
- re-assign her to safer duties that she is reasonably capable of performing
If neither of these options is possible immediately, the worker is entitled, through her right to preventive withdrawal, to stop working temporarily and receive indemnities.
During the period of re-assignment or preventive withdrawal, the worker retains all the benefits associated with her employment. Subsequently, her employer must reinstate her in her usual job.
Note
A worker who participates in the program during her pregnancy may submit a request to participate again during the period when she breast-feeds her baby. However, only hazards to the child’s health will be considered for the nursing period.
Clientele and Requirements
Workers, within the meaning of the Act respecting occupational health and safety, who are pregnant or nursing and who:
- believe that they are exposed, in the course of their duties, to hazards to their health or to that of their child (e.g. heavy loads, long working hours or exposure to contaminants, viruses, vibrations or high heat)
- are available for re-assignment to other duties
- are deemed medically fit to work
Restrictions
The following workers are not eligible for the program:
- unincorporated self-employed workers
- domestic help working for an individual
- students in training
- volunteer workers
- women working outside Québec or for an employer that does not have an establishment in Québec
- employees of businesses under federal jurisdiction
Benefits applicable to the period from January 1 to December 31, 2018.
Wages paid during the period of re-assignment to other duties
A worker who is re-assigned to other duties keeps her usual wages, even if the re-assignment is part-time or if the wages for the new position are lower than those the worker was receiving for her usual position.
Wages and indemnities paid during the period of preventive withdrawal
The worker first receives the following amounts from her employer:
- for the first 5 business days: 100% of her usual net wages
- for the next 14 days: 90% of her usual net wages, for the days she would normally have worked
Thereafter, the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail pays the worker directly an income replacement indemnity equal to 90% of her weighted net income, up to a maximum of $74,000 (maximum yearly insurable earnings). Her weighted net income is calculated based on:
- the wages provided for in her employment contract or her income for the last 12 months
- her family situation, as reported for tax purposes;
- her deductions for income tax, employment insurance, the Québec Pension Plan and the Québec Parental Insurance Plan
Payment of the indemnity ceases
- on the date when the nursing period ends
- on the date when the worker is re-assigned to a position that allows her to work safely
- when the hazard that justified the preventive withdrawal has ceased to exist
- 4 weeks prior to the week of the expected delivery date
- on the actual date of the delivery, in the following situations:
- the delivery is premature
- the worker is not eligible for benefits under the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) (however, to continue receiving the indemnity up to the delivery date, she must send the Commission a letter proving that she is ineligible for QPIP benefits)
Note
The date on which payments cease may be adjusted if the expected delivery date changes and the worker’s physician notifies the Commission at least 28 calendar days before the date indicated on the form.
Terms and conditions of payment of income replacement indemnities
Payment is by cheque or direct deposit, every 2 weeks.
Tax treatment
Income replacement indemnities paid by the Commission are exempt from taxes.
The For a Safe Maternity Experience program was created in 1981.
