{"id":65107,"date":"2026-05-14T14:25:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/?post_type=publications-page&p=65107"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:25:21","slug":"basic-rights","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/basic-rights","title":{"rendered":"Basic rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ESA provides your basic or minimum rights to pregnancy and parental leave.<\/p>\n

This means that your employer cannot give you less time off than what the ESA says.<\/p>\n

Your employer might have to give you more than what\u2019s in the ESA if you have a contract or collective agreement that says this.<\/p>\n

For example, some employment contracts say that an employer must pay you money on top of your EI benefits while you\u2019re on leave. This is often called a “top up”.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-65107","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nBasic rights - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/basic-rights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Basic rights - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ESA provides your basic or minimum rights to pregnancy and parental leave. This means that your employer cannot give you less time off than what the ESA says. 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This means that your employer cannot give you less time off than what the ESA says. 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