Employment Insurance (EI) is a taxable federal benefit administered by Service Canada, that provides temporary income to those who:

• Are unemployed and seeking employment or upgrading their skills, or
• Take time off due to:
  • Illness,
  • Pregnancy,
  • Caring for a newborn or newly adopted child, or
  • Caring for a critically ill or injured person or family member.

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There are multiple categories for EI benefits and some of these are:

• EI Regular benefits - For those who have lost their job at no fault of their own, are able and available to work, but are unable to secure employment.
• EI Sickness benefits - For those who are unable to work due to medical reasons (illness, injury, quarantine or any medical condition preventing you from working).
• EI Maternity and Parental benefits - For those who are temporarily unable to work due to being pregnant, caring for a newborn or caring for a newly adopted child.
• EI Caregiving benefits and leave - For those who need to take time away from work to care for a critically ill or injured person or someone needing end-of-life care.
• EI for self-employed - For those who are self-employed and they also have access to the following types of EI special benefits:
  • Maternity and parental benefits
  • Sickness benefits
  • Caregiving benefits
• EI for Canadians living abroad - For those who work for a Canadian company or the Canadian government abroad.

Note: Ask An Advocate is only able to provide information on Regular and Sickness benefits.

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Regular EI benefits may provide financial assistance to individuals who lost their jobs at no fault of their own, are available to work and looking for employment. The eligibility requirements for regular EI are:

• You will need between 420 and 700 hours of insurable employment (required hours may vary depending on your local unemployment rate)
• You lost your job at no fault of your own
• You have been without work and pay for at least 7 consecutive days in the last 52 weeks
• You must be ready, willing, searching and able to work,
• You must not have been incarcerated (in jail, penitentiary or other similar institutions) unless it can be proven that you were in jail but found Not Guilty by the Court of Law
• Must not have left work voluntarily or due to misconduct
• Must not have worked more than the required number of hours for full-time employment.

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EI sickness benefits may provide financial assistance for up to 26 weeks to individuals who cannot work due to medical reasons. The eligibility requirements for EI sickness benefits are:

• You are unable to work due to medical reasons.
• Your regular earnings have decreased by more than 40% for at least one week.
• You have at least 600 insured hours of work in the 52 weeks before the start of your claim (or since the start of your last claim; whichever is shorter).

You will need to provide a Medical Certificate or other medical documents to show you are unable to work.

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You may be able to receive regular benefits combined with maternity, parental, sickness, compassionate care or family caregiver benefits for a combined period of 50 weeks.

Insurable employment refers to employment that is under a contract of service. That is, an employment that has an employer-employee relationship. This is the case with most employment in Canada. In an insurable employment, you contribute to EI through your employer automatically deducting a specific amount per pay stub. As well as, there is no age limit for the EI premiums to be deducted.

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Applicants will need 420 to 700 hours of insurable employment for Regular EI that will be used to calculate their qualifying period and is based on the unemployment rate in your area. This qualifying period is the shorter of:

• 52 weeks immediately before the start date of your claim; or
• The period from the start of a previous benefit period to the start of your new benefit period, if you applied for benefits earlier and your application was approved in the last 52 weeks.

For example:

• If you submitted a new EI claim on April 1st, 2020, your 52 week period is from April 07th, 2019 to April 1st, 2020.
• If you applied for EI on April 1st, 2020 and had previously applied on December 15th, 2019, your qualifying period is from December 15th, 2019 to March 31st, 2020.

For EI Sickness benefits, applicants may need 600 insurable hours to qualify.

To determine the number of hours that will be needed based on your location, refer to the EI Economic Region by Postal Code.

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Since applicants are assessed on a case to case basis, there is no way to estimate exactly how much you may receive for EI. Applicants will be informed about their benefit amount once their application is approved. The basic rate is 55% of the applicant's average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum amount. For 2023, the maximum amount is $650/week (based on the maximum yearly insurable earnings amount of $61, 500).

You may receive benefits for 14 to 45 weeks depending on the unemployment rate in the region and the number of insurable hours. The amount you will receive is calculated by:

• The weeks where you earned money will be used to calculate your total insurable earnings.
• Based on the unemployment rate in your region, the number of best weeks, the divisor, will be determined.
• Your total insurable earnings will be divided by the divisor.
• The amount above is then multiplied by 55% to obtain the amount you may be eligible for on a weekly basis.

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Yes, all types of EI benefits are taxable.

You may work while receiving EI, however, you must inform Service Canada should you find employment. Your benefit payment will then be adjusted or stopped. Failure to report your new job and income may result in an EI overpayment.

If you work while receiving benefits, you will be able to keep half of your earnings, up to 90% of your weekly insurable earnings. If you earn more than 90% of your weekly earnings, the additional amount will be deducted dollar for dollar from your benefits.

Example 1: If your average weekly insurable earning is $1,000 and you currently earn $500 per week. The amount that you will be able to keep is calculated as:

• 90% of $1000 = $900
• 50% of $900 = $450.

Therefore, if your EI benefit rate is at a maximum of $650, then $450 will be deducted from the $650. Therefore, you will only receive $200 ($650 - $450) as your EI benefit amount.

Example 2: If your weekly insurable earning is $1,000 and you earn $1,200 per week, then your earning exemption is calculated as:

• 90% of $1000 = $900
• 50% of $900 = $450.
• $1,200 - $900 = $300. This is the difference between what you earned and 90% of your weekly insurable earnings.
• $450 + $300 = $750. This is the amount that will be deducted from your EI benefits.

Therefore, if your maximum benefit rate is $650, then $750 will be deducted from $650, which will result in you not receiving benefits for that week.

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Any amount that is paid or payable by an employer is considered earnings. If you receive earnings or other payments while receiving EI, they may be deducted from your EI benefits.

Some examples of earnings are:

• Wages, salary, commissions.
• Monetary benefits such as vacation pay, severance pay, etc.
• Other employment benefits such as housing, meals insurance coverage, etc.
• Self-employment income.
• Compensation from losing your job such as insurance.

For a detailed list of different types of earnings and their impact on your EI benefits, click here.

You will need to report all income that you receive such as other benefits, cash, income from an employer, etc. Service Canada may also ask question such as:

• What does the payment mean?
• Who made the payment?
• Why was the payment made?
• Where did the payment come from and where is it going?

Additionally, earnings paid or payable by your employer at the end of employment may affect your EI payments by:

• Delaying the start of your claim
• Delaying the 1 week waiting period
• Delaying the start of your payments
• Reducing the payment amount
• Not being able to extend your benefit period.

It is important to remember that some of the income reported may be deducted from your EI benefit.

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Unfortunately, Service Canada does not provide any medical benefit while you are on EI. However, you may want to check if you qualify for medical benefits through your provincial disability program.

You may be eligible for the Family Supplement if:

• Your net household income is $25,921 or less per year,
• You have children, and
• You or your spouse receives the Canada Child Benefit.

The Family Supplement is a benefit available to families whose net income is less than $25,921 per year. The family supplement rate is based on the family net income and the number of children in the family and their ages. The family supplement may increase an EI recipient's benefit rate up to 80%.

Note: If you and your spouse both apply for EI and are deemed eligible, only one of you can receive the family supplement.

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You may receive regular EI benefits while outside Canada if you can show that you are available to work in Canada while abroad. You must also let Service Canada know about your travel plans.

You are able to leave Canada for 7 consecutive days if you are:

• Attending a funeral for a close family member.
• Accompanying an immediate family member to a medical facility for a treatment not available in Canada.
• Visiting an immediate family member who is seriously ill or injured.
• Attending a job interview.

You may be allowed to leave Canada for 14 consecutive days if you can show Service Canada that you will be able to return to Canada within 48 hours should you be offered a job.

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When deciding whether to cancel a claim or start a new claim, you may want to consider the following:

• If a claim is reactivated and you worked after that claim, you may want to start a new claim when your current one is over.
• You may want to check if you have enough insurable hours and meet the eligibility criteria for the new claim.
• If you cancel the existing claim, you may lose the remaining amount payable to you.
• When a new claim is submitted, the applicant must serve a one week waiting period before they receive benefits.

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A bi-weekly report must be filled out by EI recipients in order to continue receiving payment.

It will need to provide the following:

• Information on the work they did and earnings receiving during their EI benefits period,
• Their true earnings before deductions,
• Any training that they did, and
• Whether they are available to work.

For more information on bi-weekly reporting, click here.

To apply for EI, you must complete the application online on Service Canada's website. The application may take approximately 60 minutes to complete and it includes detailed instructions on how to complete the application.

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To apply for EI online, you will need to provide all of the following information:

• An email address
• Your Social Insurance Number (SIN) and proof of status if your SIN starts with 9.
• Your mother's maiden name.
• Your mailing and residential address.
• Your banking information.
• Your employers' information and dates of employment for the past 52 weeks.
• The reasons for currently being unemployed.
• The dates and earnings of your highest paid weeks.

If you are reactivating an existing claim, you may also need to provide the following information:

• The salary amount you received.
• Any other amount you received or will receive.

Remember to apply as soon as you stop working even if you don't have all the documents available to submit. If you wait more than 4 weeks to apply, you may become ineligible. The application may take about an hour to complete and you have 72 hours to submit the application.

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After applying for EI, if deemed eligible, you should receive your first payment within 28 days of applying and submitting all documents. However, you may not receive payments for one week as this is the waiting period.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, if you apply for EI, you will automatically receive the Canada Emergency Response Benefits (CERB) first for a maximum of 16 weeks until October 01st, 2020. Once your CERB benefit period is over, your claim should automatically turn into an EI claim and you may have to serve a 1 week waiting period at the end of your CERB benefit period.

It is important to remember that you must complete bi-weekly reports to prove on-going eligibility for EI even while you are receiving the CERB payments.

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If you've been denied EI, you may request a reconsideration if you disagree with the decision. You may also request a reconsideration if you have to repay benefits you received. You will need to complete the Request for Reconsideration form and submit it to Service Canada within 30 days of receiving the decision. If you are submitting your request after 30 days, you must explain to Service Canada why there's a delay.

Along with the reconsideration, you may need to submit documents that you missed while applying or new information that can affect your benefits. A Service Canada agent will review your reconsideration and this agent will not be the same person who made the original decision.

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If you’ve been denied EI, you have the rights to request a reconsideration if you disagree with the decision. You may also request a reconsideration if you have to repay the benefits you received. You will need to complete the Request for Reconsideration online form and submit it to Service Canada within 30 days of receiving the decision. If you are submitting your request after 30 days, you must explain to Service Canada why there’s a delay.

Along with the reconsideration, you may need to submit documents that you missed while applying or new information that can affect your benefits. A Service Canada agent will review your reconsideration.

For more information, click here.

The benefit amount that you may be eligible for is calculated based on the employment income prior to having stopped working. Therefore, you must provide all appropriate documents to show your previous income when applying for EI. If you believe that Service Canada calculated your benefit amount wrong due to missing documents, you may want to make sure that all the missing documents are submitted and the amount is corrected by informing Service Canada.

Service Canada contact: 1-800-206-7218

Your EI claim will end if any of the following occurs:

• You've received all your benefits,
• Your payment time frame ends,
• You stop completing your reports,
• You request for your claim to end.

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