Denying EI to women laid off after maternity leave violated Charter, appeal court rules

A Federal Court of Appeal ruling has sided with six Quebec women who were denied employment insurance after losing their jobs shortly before, during or after maternity leave. The judges found that withholding the benefits violated the equality guarantee in Section 15 of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The case began in 2018. Some of the women did not have enough insurable work hours, while others had already reached the 50-week benefit limit. Sibel Ataogul, the applicants’ lead attorney, said the rules require people to accumulate a certain number of hours during the previous year, something women on maternity leave cannot do. The law allows an extension for people detained in prison, she said, but offers no similar provision for women on parental leave.

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One of the grounds listed in section 15 is sex, and it is well-established that discrimination based on pregnancy and motherhood is sex-based discrimination.

“One of the grounds listed in section 15 is sex, and it is well-established that discrimination based on pregnancy and motherhood is sex-based discrimination,” the three-judge panel wrote. The court said the limits on combining employment insurance with maternity or parental benefits disproportionately affected women because women alone can receive maternity benefits and make up a large share of parental-benefit claimants.

Ataogul called the situation “a perpetuation of decades and decades of sexism.” She said women can remain disadvantaged compared with men who have children for an average of nine years after giving birth. The applicants were represented by the advocacy group Mouvement Action Chômage.

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You need to have accumulated a certain amount of hours in the last year, but you won’t be able to accumulate those hours if you’re on mat leave.

The women initially won before the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal, which found that excluding them from EI during or after maternity leave amounted to gender discrimination. The Employment Insurance Commission challenged that ruling, and the Court of Appeal reversed it. The women returned to court in November 2025 and received notice of their victory on Wednesday.

The appeal court struck down the discriminatory parts of the EI Act but suspended the declaration for one year. The federal government therefore has 12 months to amend the legislation.

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It’s really a perpetuation of decades and decades of sexism.