The Nova Scotia government introduced Bill 29 on September 14,
2018 to increase pregnancy and parental leave to reflect the recent
changes by the federal government to Employment Insurance
("EI"). Those EI changes extended employment insurance
for maternity and parental leave from a combined 50 weeks to 76
weeks and came into effect on December 3, 2017. The majority of
provinces have amended their employment standards to match the
federal government's changes to employment insurance (see chart
below).
Consistent with the federal EI changes, Bill 29 reduces pregnancy
leave from 17 weeks to 16 weeks (to reflect the now reduced EI
waiting period of one week), increases parental leave from 52 weeks
to 77 weeks and also increases the maximum combined leave from 52
weeks to 77 weeks. Bill 29 received second reading in the
legislature on September 14, 2018. On September 24, 2018 the NDP
brought a motion at Law Amendments to reduce the one year
employment requirement for
