You didn’t receive a retroactive QPIP adjustment? Read this:
The APTS is incensed to learn that yet again the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) is unable to pay employees the benefits owed to them, taking into account the retroactive salary paid when the collective agreement (2023-2028) was recently renewed. The QPIP rules don’t allow for benefits to be recalculated if the recipient’s file is no longer active – which means that thousands of you are affected, and the vast majority are women. In our view, this situation is clearly discriminatory and the APTS is continuing its fight to contest the QPIP rules and get them changed.
IF YOU THINK THIS SITUATION HAS HAPPENED TO YOU, PLEASE CHECK THE CRITERIA AND THE STEPS BELOW TO DEMAND THAT YOUR QPIP BENEFITS BE RECALCULATED.
This concerns you if:
- you received QPIP benefits for maternity, paternity, adoption of parental leave;
- AND your salary was modified retroactively by the new collective agreement.
If your QPIP benefits ended before you received the retroactive amount resulting from the collective agreement being renewed, you can take the following detailed steps to have your QPIP benefits reassessed.
The same holds true if your job title had a pay adjustment as part of the settlement for the 2010 pay equity maintenance complaints:
- audiologist, speech-language pathologist, assistant head of archives, medical records archivist (team leader) or nutritionist, if you received QPIP benefits in the period between 2010 and 2022;
- dental hygienist if you received QPIP benefits in the period between 2016 and 2022.
Steps to take
- After receiving one or more retroactive payments, ask the employer for a new record of employment that shows your earnings for the period(s) of leave concerned;
- Then contact the QPIP to request that the benefits for the periods concerned be modified, and include your new record(s) of employment;
- Wait for the QPIP decision:
- If your request is accepted, the issue is successfully settled;
- If your request is denied, immediately contact your union counsellor to contest the decision and get a signed representation agreement from the APTS. The APTS will accompany you through the various steps. Note that you only have 90 days to contest the decision.
If challenging the decision in court
You’ll need to be patient. Unfortunately, this type of legal action can take several years, but the APTS will be at your side and give you progress reports at every stage. It’s important to keep all the documentation related to your case throughout the process. Your local team will be there to answer your questions and support you.
A feminist issue
Although this QPIP issue isn’t necessarily a union responsibility, the APTS was the first union that has taken action to contest this discrimination. So far, it’s the only union to do so.The reason is simple: this is a feminist issue and the APTS is decidedly feminist!
Despite more fathers taking paternity leave and the growing popularity of sharing parental leave, this paradigm shift is still on the timid side, and women are the ones taking almost 90% of all maternity and parental leave. This issue affects them – once again – the hardest.
The conclusion we can draw is simple: we are dealing here with gender-based discrimination. By refusing to retroactively adjust benefits to take into account payments made when the collective agreement was renewed, the QPIP is perpetuating practices that disadvantage women.
Join with us to assert your rights and the rights of all women!
