Out of work and in debt: union fights for young mother on maternity leave to return to work

When CEIU member Daisy Mulé left to have a child, she planned to return to her job at Service Canada when her maternity leave ended. But Service Canada decided not to renew her term contract, leaving her unemployed and facing an $8000 debt for the EI supplementary benefits (“top up”) she received. CEIU is fighting back.

Daisy took a year’s maternity leave from Service Canada in April of this year. At that time, her current contract was to have expired this past August 31. She had nonetheless received verbal assurance from management that it was highly probable that her contract job would be available on her return.

Based on this assurance, Daisy applied for and received roughly $8,000 in EI supplementary benefits that are contingent on a return to work after maternity leave. Then, on August 14, Daisy was told that her contract would not be renewed and that she was now excluded from the ‘pool’ of those supposedly qualified for the very position she had held for years. This bizarre move was made despite the fact that in August her contract had been extended to September 14.

At a September 26 news conference, Daisy told the Toronto Sun "I’m totally shocked. The message I get is that it’s not very smart to have a baby.”

This is not the first time Service Canada has treated a CEIU member in this way. Just before Christmas the department terminated Asheena Rycman while she was on maternity leave. The union pushed back and was able to have her reinstated. Senior Union Representative Alan Lennon told the Toronto Sun “They miraculously found an empty job and gave her a contract.”

At the September 26 news conference, CEIU Ontario National Vice-President Paul Soeiro took the position that "Clearly, Daisy is being penalized for having exercised her legitimate and legal right to take maternity leave."

CEIU National President Jeannette Meunier-McKay stated, "If this wasn’t such a blatantly unfair situation, one could laugh at the irony. Daisy’s job was in Service Canada’s Compassionate Care Unit, when all she wants is for the government to demonstrate a little compassion for one of its own loyal workers."

The union is pursuing Daisy’s case through legal channels, including grievances.