If each parent takes the full leave consecutively, following the seventeen-week maternity leave, a total of 53 weeks is possible. . The length of parental leave is eighteen weeks. The employee may opt to return earlier on four weeks' written notice. . The leave is without pay . During the leave, the employer is responsible for employer contributions to pension, life insurance, extended health care, and dental unless the employer receives notice in writing from the employee that he or she does not intend to pay the employee's contribution. .
Seniority continues to accrue during the leave. .
The employee must be reinstated to the same position or comparable position if the original position no longer exists. The employee must obtain wages equal to the greater of the wages most recently paid to the employee or the wages the employee would have received had he or she continued to work throughout the leave. The above provisions were enacted partly to allow employees to take advantage of certain changes to the Employment Insurance Act. The right to a leave of absence under the Employment Standards Act is independent of any right to college Employment Insurance . The time periods set out in the two Acts do not coincide.