Manitoba parents who had child through surrogacy fighting for mat leave benefits
CBC
A Manitoba couple say they're being discriminated against and are left fighting for maternity benefits because they had their daughter through surrogacy.
Jaclyn and Tim Blazanovic welcomed Amelia to the world last October through surrogacy, after trying to have a child for 15 years, including five failed IVF attempts.
But the wording of the collective agreement covering Jaclyn's job as an operating room assistant at Pan Am Clinic means since her daughter was born through surrogacy, Jaclyn isn't eligible for top-up maternity benefits — a discovery that's left the new parents frustrated.
"[It's] like I'm not a mother," said Jaclyn.
"Like I'm less of a person," she said.
Tim said Jaclyn met most of the requirements under the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 204's collective agreement for the paid maternity leave plan.
The main sticking point was a section of the agreement that states the employee must provide documentation from a medical practitioner certifying that the employee is pregnant, and specifying the estimated date of their delivery.
"The collective agreement states she has to be the natural birth mother," said Tim.
"So even though [Amelia is] born of us, through a surrogate, bearing our last name, given to us at birth ... they refuse to wish to pay us because they're hanging on this thread that she's not the natural birth mother."
The denial of benefits is "very unfair," said Tim.
"We're just looking for equality, because she pays the same union dues as all the other people who work for the province, and all the other staff who get pregnant and have a child. We can't be the only ones that have done surrogacy. We can't be the only ones who think this is unfair."
Tim said even Jaclyn's boss at Pan Am Clinic asked their human resources consultant why she wasn't getting paid.
"She wanted to help us," he said. "Everybody wants to help us, but everybody's hands are tied, or so they keep saying, and nothing's changing."
While Jaclyn is getting employment insurance at 33 per cent of her regular pay, she isn't getting the top-up benefit the collective agreement includes for paid maternity leave, which would bring her to 93 per cent of her pay.
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