British Columbia Securities Commission v. Burke, 2008 BCSC 1244, holds that parental leave can start anytime within the 52 weeks following child birth.

The issue was whether the leave had to be started and finished within the 52 week period or whether it just had to be started.

Justice Cullen states:

[135] The Tribunal noted that narrowing the entitlement of birth fathers (and birth mothers who don’t take pregnancy leave) compared to adopting parents, through interpretation of the statute, would run contrary to the principles expressed in Rizzo. The Tribunal reasoned that in light of those principles, as well as given a contextual analysis of the legislation’s current and historical provisions, and in the absence of any rational basis for the differentiation, the Director’s interpretation should be favoured over that advanced by the petitioner. In the result, the Tribunal concluded that the Director did not err, and that s. 51(1)(c) of the ESA “entitles an employee upon appropriate notice to commence unpaid parental leave any time within 52 weeks of the birth of their child”.

Keep this case in mind next time you consider parental leave requests.