Year: 2010
Location: Calgary
Profile: A Labour Relations Officer (LRO) for the United Nurses of Alberta from 1988 to 2018, Laurie Coates participated in the Susan Parcels case that established the right of women on maternity leave to receive the same benefits as employees on health leave. Graduating as an RN in 1972, Coates’ union activism led to her LRO position in the Southern Alberta Regional Office in Calgary. Soon after becoming an LRO, she received a call from Parcels, a nurse with the Red Deer Regional Hospital who was being denied employer-paid benefits during her MAT leave. Coates recognized the parallel with a Manitoba case in which Safeway’s group insurance plan discriminated against pregnant women. UNA’s existing collective agreement required women on maternity leave to cover the full cost of their benefits whereas the employer paid 75% of benefits for employees on sick leave. Coates participated in many discussions with UNA’s legal counsel as the case unfolded. “I can’t explain how wonderful it was to work for an organization that would support the cost, the manpower, the effort that it took to be able to proceed with this, the Parcels case. It made me very proud to be an employee of this organization.”
Keywords: Brooks v Canada Safeway; Health leave; Human rights; Labour Relations Officer; Maternity leave; Susan Parcels; Red Deer Regional Hospital; UNA history
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See also: United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta