Employment Insurance (EI)
Most employees qualify for government employment insurance (“EI”) that will pay them a salary while they are not working for some reason, including:
- regular benefits for people whose employment was terminated without cause;
- sickness benefits for people who are unable to work due to illness or injury;
- maternity and parental benefits for pregnant women, individuals who have recently had a baby and individuals who have adopted a baby;
- compassionate care benefits for people who have to leave work to care for a gravely ill family member.
Sometimes, however, individuals can be denied government employment insurance benefits. For example, you are only entitled to EI regular benefits if you:
- were employed;
- lost your job through no fault of your own;
- have worked for the required number of hours since your last EI claim;
- are ready, willing and capable of working every weak day; and
- are actively looking for work.
You may not be entitled for benefits:
- if you voluntarily left your job without just cause (unless you were constructively dismissed);
- if you were dismissed for just cause (this is usually easy to disprove unless it was very serious misconduct);
- if you are unemployed because you on strike.
Please note, Dutton Employment Law does not handle EI issues and we do not provide free consultations for EI issues.