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Thread: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by golfguy1672 View Post
    Hey Rylant.


    I have a question. Sorry if this has been asked. My wife is dealing with some nonsense. She is currently 6+ months pregnant and her employer is making a lay-off in her department but using this as a way to get rid of her on a temporary manner instead of a real layoff which would give her a severance package.

    My question is, if she takes the layoff for essentially 2 months, will this impact her Mat leave that she has coming? Will it take two months of eligibility off of it? Or will this be separate. Any help would greatly be appreciated
    Hey Bud. First of all, congrats on the imminent arrival of the little one! Ya this is fairly common and it gets confusing, fast. I will try to explain as best I can.

    The short answer is "yes" that 2 months will impact her Maternity/Parental benefits, but how it affects her claim is really dependent on what type of benefits she is looking to collect during the 2 months before the baby is born.

    So, if she is looking for regular benefits for those 2 months, that will significantly affect her benefits. This is why; First you need to understand that there are different types of benefits. Regular Benefits and Special Benefits. Regular benefits tend to be when you are healthy and able to work, however you can't find work. Special Benefits is any number of benefits including Sickness, Maternity, Parental, Family Caregiver Benefits, etc. A lot of people don't realize this, but when a woman has a baby, there tends to be 2 different types of benefits; 15 weeks of Maternity Benefits, followed by 35 weeks of Parental Benefits for a total of 50 weeks of benefits. The Maternity and Parental benefits are very similar, but each have their own windows in which they must be collected and have some slight differences. Maternity benefits must be taken by the mother, and can be taken before the baby is born; up to 12 weeks before the due date. Parental benefits can be shared, and must be taken from the week that the baby is born until the week the baby turns 1 year old. The other really important window here is the Benefit Period Window, which tends to be 52 weeks after the start of the claim. All benefits have to be taken within this time. There are things that can extend these windows. For instance, if somebody is sick before the baby is born, they can collect up to 15 weeks of Sickness Benefits, followed by 15 weeks of Maternity Benefits, followed by 35 Weeks of Parental Benefits. If somebody collects at least 1 week of Sickness, 1 week of Maternity and 1 week of Parental, it extends the Benefits Period Window by 15 weeks. So in this case, you would have 67 weeks to claim 65 weeks of benefits. If your wife takes Sickness benefits before her Maternity Benefits, she should be ok to collect all of the benefits she is entitled to. She could collect those Sickness Benefits up to a maximum of 15 weeks, and if the baby is born before she reaches the end of those 15 weeks of Sickness Benefits, we would switch her claim to Maternity in the week that the baby was born, and she would not be able to collect the remaining Sickness weeks.

    However, if your wife is not sick and needs to take Regular Benefits before collecting Maternity, that will have a profound affect on her claim. So, as I have explained, there is Regular Benefits and Special Benefits in which Maternity and Parental benefits are. Any time somebody uses a combined amount of Regular Benefits AND Special Benefits, the maximum combined weeks of benefits they can collect is 50 weeks combined. So, if for instance, you wife collects 8 weeks of Regular Benefits, then 15 weeks of Maternity Benefits, there would only be 27 weeks of Parental Benefits that she could claim before her total Combined Benefits reached 50 weeks; her claim would terminate then and she would lose out on those 8 last weeks of Parental benefits. As well, the Benefit Period Window is not extended by claiming Regular, Maternity and Parental Benefits. So this means the Benefit Period Window is 52 weeks from the start of her claim and she cannot claim benefits past then. So if she starts collecting Regular Benefits now in March 2020, in March of 2021 she would reach the end of her Benefit Period Window which is BEFORE the baby turns 1, and would not be able to collect the remaining weeks.

    Now, if this is the case, it is possible that you could collect the Parental Benefits that she was not able to collect. Parental Benefits can be shared between the parents. Also, recently to encourage parents to share benefits (Largely before, Mom would take all of the Parental Benefits while Dad stayed at work), they have introduced new legislation which gives an additional 5 weeks of Parental Benefits, if the Parents are sharing the Benefits. So you could potentially claim the 8 weeks that she was not able to collect, plus the additional 5 weeks because you are sharing. Keep in mind that you would have to qualify for benefits yourself. You and her can both be collecting benefits at the same time, although you have to remember the Parental Window still applies to you in that you have to collect your Parental Benefits between the time the baby is born and the time the baby turns 1. So, for instance, let's say that she is collecting her Maternity Portion of the benefits, and you want to collect your Parental Benefits, you can both do this at the same time.

    I know that this is a lot of information and it can be confusing all at once. Let me know if you have any further questions.

    Rylant

  2. #32
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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Thank you both for responses.

    I think what we are going to try and do is my wife has a doctors appointment on Thursday next week. She is going to claim stress and whatnot (truth actually) and hope to get put on the sickness portion until the baby is born and then switch to proper maternity leave then parental leave.

    She just needs her work to agree to give her another week to make the choice. They are forcing her to decide to either be laid off now or stay on for two months and her subordinate gets laid off for 2 months then brought back. I feel like punching the owner of the company for forcing this on her. But hopefully we get the outcome we want.

    Again thank you for your time and expertise
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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Hey! Thanks again for doing this. This more of a speculation question... but do you think there will be opportunity for those graduating college that were set to begin there careers in May and had jobs line up will receive any aid from Service Canada?

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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by PenguinHunter View Post
    Hey! Thanks again for doing this. This more of a speculation question... but do you think there will be opportunity for those graduating college that were set to begin there careers in May and had jobs line up will receive any aid from Service Canada?
    By "lined up", do you mean they already have signed letters of offer with a specific starting date on it?

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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by als_revenge View Post
    By "lined up", do you mean they already have signed letters of offer with a specific starting date on it?
    In one specific situation that is the case. They signed a contract to start work for an accounting firm.

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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by PenguinHunter View Post
    Hey! Thanks again for doing this. This more of a speculation question... but do you think there will be opportunity for those graduating college that were set to begin there careers in May and had jobs line up will receive any aid from Service Canada?
    Two part question because it covers two periods of time and requires one very important thing first - enough hours to qualify.

    There are still entrance requirements to qualify for EI based on region.
    That's the 1st factor that needs to be reviewed before reviewing two periods of time.
    No point reviewing availability if they cannot establish a claim in the first place.

    Period 1. Period of time to end of semester - availability would need to be reviewed. In a majority of situations EI won't be payable while they finish school - but this would be reviewed on a case by case - INDIVIDUAL Basis.
    Period 2. If their job is delayed or lost due to COVID - then yes, EI will pay them once school is complete.
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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    There are big changes coming on this front with small/medium businesses getting help to keep people on payroll. This might affect me directly.


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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    In a major boost to small and medium-sized businesses, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday that the federal government will cover 75 per cent of wages for qualifying businesses, backdated to March 15.

    Trudeau also announced the launch of the Canada Emergency Business Account, in which banks will soon offer $40,000 loans guaranteed by the government to qualifying businesses. The loans will be interest-free for the first year, and the first $10,000 of that amount will be forgiveable for businesses that meet certain conditions.
    https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ed-businesses/

    Key take aways:
    The Government will cover up to 75% of wages for employees of eligible employers.
    What and who are an eligible employer was not announced [please update if you see something]

    A new loan program of up to $40,000 for eligible small businesses with up to $10,000 being forgivable.
    [Again no details yet]
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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by LawMan View Post
    https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ed-businesses/

    Key take aways:
    The Government will cover up to 75% of wages for employees of eligible employers.
    What and who are an eligible employer was not announced [please update if you see something]

    A new loan program of up to $40,000 for eligible small businesses with up to $10,000 being forgivable.
    [Again no details yet]
    This should alleviate a lot of pressure on Work Share claims as this incentive is better than that program.

    Making this decision retro to March 15 should result in a lot of abandoned applications as employers take staff back on and also pay them retro to March 15th.

    In the past 12 days Service Canada has received 1.5 million EI applications. That's more than the average year.
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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    It's probably cheaper for them to do this than to flood the EI system


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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by PenguinHunter View Post
    Hey! Thanks again for doing this. This more of a speculation question... but do you think there will be opportunity for those graduating college that were set to begin there careers in May and had jobs line up will receive any aid from Service Canada?
    Sorry bud I didn't get to this sooner. I have been working like 90 hour weeks since this whole thing started and haven't had a day off in a while...I saw that Lucafen did answer the question, but I thought I should throw out a bit more info.

    The one thing about being in college and graduating, is do you have enough hours in the qualifying period to establish a claim? So if you apply in May of 2020, they would look in the previous year; do you have enough hours (Between 420 and 700, depending on the regional rate of unemployment in your area) to establish a claim? If you have enough hours, they might review your availability. Keep in mind that since Covid-19, that review of availability is "If it wasn't for the threat of Covid-19, would you be available for and capable of full time work?" If you answer yes, you could get benefits. If you answer no, you won't. And yes, as Lucafen said, if you don't have enough hours in the qualifying period to establish a claim, you just flat out wouldn't get EI. You still may qualify for CERB, however.

    Hope this helps.

    Rylant

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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by ericdaoust View Post
    It's probably cheaper for them to do this than to flood the EI system
    Ya no question. And not to give away the ending, but they are already flooding the EI system. Sadly, there is no contingency plan for something of this magnitude. We recently implemented a new phone system which guarantees that if you get into the queue, we will answer your call as long as you are willing to wait. Spoiler alert; this isn't happening. They are working on so many things right now, but unfortunately, EI agents do a complicated job. We didn't have 1000 agents on call for when this happens, and to train up that many people would take months. There are definitely things that can be done to help mitigate the issues, and they are doing these things, but right now it is a really difficult situation where Canadians aren't being served as well as they deserve. There just isn't a complete solution right now...

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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rylant View Post
    Ya no question. And not to give away the ending, but they are already flooding the EI system. Sadly, there is no contingency plan for something of this magnitude. We recently implemented a new phone system which guarantees that if you get into the queue, we will answer your call as long as you are willing to wait. Spoiler alert; this isn't happening. They are working on so many things right now, but unfortunately, EI agents do a complicated job. We didn't have 1000 agents on call for when this happens, and to train up that many people would take months. There are definitely things that can be done to help mitigate the issues, and they are doing these things, but right now it is a really difficult situation where Canadians aren't being served as well as they deserve. There just isn't a complete solution right now...

    Rylant
    Seems like a win-win to keep people employed as much as possible.

    -Less burden on the EI system
    -More reassurance of keeping your job when we get to the other side
    -Probably a financial win too considering all the extra resources needed to keep the EI system rolling, including the stuff you mentioned.


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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Is the Emergency Care Benefit available to a young person who was not in the labour force prior to the outbreak of COVID (due to a disability)?

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    Default Re: Any Employment Insurance questions out there?

    Quote Originally Posted by als_revenge View Post
    Is the Emergency Care Benefit available to a young person who was not in the labour force prior to the outbreak of COVID (due to a disability)?
    So it looks like the Emergency Care Benefit is going to be run through the Canada Revenue Agency. Unfortunately I don’t work for the CRA, but if you go to Canada.ca there is some information about it. I actually took the day off today (my first in weeks), so right now I don’t have access to my latest updates through work. Tomorrow when I go in, I can post if there are any updates that I can see.

    Rylant

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