A new mother in Ontario has called out Service Canada for failing to take accountability after her maternity leave payments were delayed by months due to an error in their system.Instead of reaching out to her upon realizing there was a problem, the agency waited until she contacted them, and it was only after a weeks-long bureaucratic nightmare that money finally started coming in. "I had the baby October 12, but I went on mat leave September 30," the mother, Elizabeth, told Western Standard. "As far as I knew, we had done everything, so I was like, there should be no problem, I should start receiving funds."After the baby was born, however, she looked at her bank account and nothing had arrived."I'm so sleep deprived at this time, I'm like, why am I not being paid?" Elizabeth said. "So I called, and they're like, oh, like, you don't qualify."In order to qualify for maternity benefits, one must be pregnant or have recently given birth, have seen a 40% reduction in regular weekly earnings for at least one week, and have accumulated over 600 insured hours of work in the 52 weeks prior to the date on which the claim was filed.She met all the criteria, but something had gone wrong in the system and marked her as ineligible."No one notified me," Elizabeth stated. "I had to be the one as a very sleep deprived mother to call and figure that out."She said the process was long and tedious, with numerous phone calls, access codes, and agents passing the ball down the bureaucratic chain. Eventually she was told a case worker had been assigned to her and would follow up in a week."I never heard from said case worker," Elizabeth said. "I tried to get that person's information, an wasn't allowed."Weeks and numerous phone calls later, she was told her boss had to get involved, which he did. Only then was she told that everything had been rectified, and assured that money would start flowing into her account."I was like, 'okay, is there anything else you need me to do on my end?'" she explained, "and the person was like, 'No, like, we have everything'."For maternity benefits, there's an option to check a box and avoid having to fill out forms every two weeks to release funds. She checked that box.After receiving her first payment, Elizabeth, who works in marketing and communications, was optimistic, but after three more weeks passed and the second payment failed to arrive, she got suspicious."I was like, 'Oh my God, what's going on?'" she said, explaining that she called again and was told that despite records showing she checked the box, "the system had, again, malfunctioned."That was in January."They don't apologize," she lamented. "There's no like, 'I'm sorry that the system happened'. In my mind, I'm thinking like, what if you're a single mom and you're relying on this money to pay for your child's your baby's diapers, formula, rent, food, exactly, nobody follows up with you? It's you having to take the time, and especially as a mom like we don't have a lot of time. We only have, like, a certain amount of window, a little window, and usually in the window, we should be sleeping."Shortly after being told that the system had malfunctioned, money finally resumed flowing into her account, and she was assured that it would continue doing so every two weeks.Whether or not it will remains to be seen."There needs to be a level of transparency," Elizabeth said of Service Canada. "I know they're busy, but if there are caseworkers that are assigned to cases, why aren't you calling? Why aren't you trying to get a hold of said person and going through the steps and making sure like that?"She argued that instead of them assisting her, she was put in the position of having to assist them."You just feel kind of helpless, because you're like, 'But I qualify. Why am I not getting the money?' Then you talk to other moms, and they're like, 'Oh no. I get paid every two weeks,' and it's like, 'Oh, but then why not me?'"She noted that if someone had actually followed up with her, and taken five minutes to do what ended up taking three months, she would "feel a lot different" about the whole situation.""There was just a lack of ... understanding that you're a mom and you don't have the time to be following up with Service Canada," Elizabeth added, "but there I am, like, weekly, calling them, putting it in my calendar, making sure I don't forget. That shouldn't be my priority, right now."She concluded by pointing out that given the economic situation in Canada at the moment, by failing to ensure all mothers on maternal leave receive the financial support they need, Service Canada is adding another level of stress that negatively impacts not just the parents, but the baby as well.The Western Standard reached out to Service Canada but didn't receive a reply.
A new mother in Ontario has called out Service Canada for failing to take accountability after her maternity leave payments were delayed by months due to an error in their system.Instead of reaching out to her upon realizing there was a problem, the agency waited until she contacted them, and it was only after a weeks-long bureaucratic nightmare that money finally started coming in. "I had the baby October 12, but I went on mat leave September 30," the mother, Elizabeth, told Western Standard. "As far as I knew, we had done everything, so I was like, there should be no problem, I should start receiving funds."After the baby was born, however, she looked at her bank account and nothing had arrived."I'm so sleep deprived at this time, I'm like, why am I not being paid?" Elizabeth said. "So I called, and they're like, oh, like, you don't qualify."In order to qualify for maternity benefits, one must be pregnant or have recently given birth, have seen a 40% reduction in regular weekly earnings for at least one week, and have accumulated over 600 insured hours of work in the 52 weeks prior to the date on which the claim was filed.She met all the criteria, but something had gone wrong in the system and marked her as ineligible."No one notified me," Elizabeth stated. "I had to be the one as a very sleep deprived mother to call and figure that out."She said the process was long and tedious, with numerous phone calls, access codes, and agents passing the ball down the bureaucratic chain. Eventually she was told a case worker had been assigned to her and would follow up in a week."I never heard from said case worker," Elizabeth said. "I tried to get that person's information, an wasn't allowed."Weeks and numerous phone calls later, she was told her boss had to get involved, which he did. Only then was she told that everything had been rectified, and assured that money would start flowing into her account."I was like, 'okay, is there anything else you need me to do on my end?'" she explained, "and the person was like, 'No, like, we have everything'."For maternity benefits, there's an option to check a box and avoid having to fill out forms every two weeks to release funds. She checked that box.After receiving her first payment, Elizabeth, who works in marketing and communications, was optimistic, but after three more weeks passed and the second payment failed to arrive, she got suspicious."I was like, 'Oh my God, what's going on?'" she said, explaining that she called again and was told that despite records showing she checked the box, "the system had, again, malfunctioned."That was in January."They don't apologize," she lamented. "There's no like, 'I'm sorry that the system happened'. In my mind, I'm thinking like, what if you're a single mom and you're relying on this money to pay for your child's your baby's diapers, formula, rent, food, exactly, nobody follows up with you? It's you having to take the time, and especially as a mom like we don't have a lot of time. We only have, like, a certain amount of window, a little window, and usually in the window, we should be sleeping."Shortly after being told that the system had malfunctioned, money finally resumed flowing into her account, and she was assured that it would continue doing so every two weeks.Whether or not it will remains to be seen."There needs to be a level of transparency," Elizabeth said of Service Canada. "I know they're busy, but if there are caseworkers that are assigned to cases, why aren't you calling? Why aren't you trying to get a hold of said person and going through the steps and making sure like that?"She argued that instead of them assisting her, she was put in the position of having to assist them."You just feel kind of helpless, because you're like, 'But I qualify. Why am I not getting the money?' Then you talk to other moms, and they're like, 'Oh no. I get paid every two weeks,' and it's like, 'Oh, but then why not me?'"She noted that if someone had actually followed up with her, and taken five minutes to do what ended up taking three months, she would "feel a lot different" about the whole situation.""There was just a lack of ... understanding that you're a mom and you don't have the time to be following up with Service Canada," Elizabeth added, "but there I am, like, weekly, calling them, putting it in my calendar, making sure I don't forget. That shouldn't be my priority, right now."She concluded by pointing out that given the economic situation in Canada at the moment, by failing to ensure all mothers on maternal leave receive the financial support they need, Service Canada is adding another level of stress that negatively impacts not just the parents, but the baby as well.The Western Standard reached out to Service Canada but didn't receive a reply.
