Employment Insurance Act (S.C. 1996, c. 23)

Marginal note:Debts to Crown

• 47 (1) All amounts payable under section 38, 39, 43, 45, 46 or 46.1 are debts due to Her Majesty and are recoverable in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:Recovery

  (2) If benefits become payable to a claimant, the amount of the indebtedness may be deducted and retained out of the benefits.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (3) No amount due under this section may be recovered more than 72 months after the day on which the liability arose.

• Marginal note:Appeals

  (4) A limitation period established by subsection (3) does not run when there is pending an appeal or other review of a decision establishing the liability.

Claim Procedure

Marginal note:Claim required

• 48 (1) No benefit period shall be established for a person unless the person makes an initial claim for benefits in accordance with section 50 and the regulations and proves that the person is qualified to receive benefits.

• Marginal note:Information required

  (2) No benefit period shall be established unless the claimant supplies information in the form and manner directed by the Commission, giving the claimant’s employment circumstances and the circumstances pertaining to any interruption of earnings, and such other information as the Commission may require.

• Marginal note:Notification

  (3) On receiving an initial claim for benefits, the Commission shall decide whether the claimant is qualified to receive benefits and notify the claimant of its decision.

Marginal note:Proof required

• 49 (1) A person is not entitled to receive benefits for a week of unemployment until the person makes a claim for benefits for that week in accordance with section 50 and the regulations and proves that

  • (a) the person meets the requirements for receiving benefits; and

  • (b) no circumstances or conditions exist that have the effect of disentitling or disqualifying the person from receiving benefits.

• Marginal note:Benefit of the doubt

  (2) The Commission shall give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant on the issue of whether any circumstances or conditions exist that have the effect of disqualifying the claimant under section 30 or disentitling the claimant under section 31, 32 or 33, if the evidence on each side of the issue is equally balanced.

• Marginal note:Notification

  (3) On receiving a claim for benefits, the Commission shall decide whether benefits are payable to the claimant for that week and notify the claimant of its decision.

Marginal note:Entitlement to benefits

• 50 (1) A claimant who fails to fulfil or comply with a condition or requirement under this section is not entitled to receive benefits for as long as the condition or requirement is not fulfilled or complied with.

• Marginal note:How a claim must be made

  (2) A claim for benefits shall be made in the manner directed at the office of the Commission that serves the area in which the claimant resides, or at such other place as is prescribed or directed by the Commission.

• Marginal note:Form

  (3) A claim for benefits shall be made by completing a form supplied or approved by the Commission, in the manner set out in instructions of the Commission.

• Marginal note:Time

  (4) A claim for benefits for a week of unemployment in a benefit period shall be made within the prescribed time.

• Marginal note:Additional information

  (5) The Commission may at any time require a claimant to provide additional information about their claim for benefits.

• Marginal note:Making claim or providing information in person

  (6) The Commission may require a claimant or group or class of claimants to be at a suitable place at a suitable time in order to make a claim for benefits in person or provide additional information about a claim.

• Marginal note:Registration for employment

  (7) For the purpose of proving that a claimant is available for work, the Commission may require the claimant to register for employment at an agency administered by the Government of Canada or a provincial government and to report to the agency at such reasonable times as the Commission or agency directs.

• Marginal note:Proof of efforts to obtain employment

  (8) For the purpose of proving that a claimant is available for work and unable to obtain suitable employment, the Commission may require the claimant to prove that the claimant is making reasonable and customary efforts to obtain suitable employment.

• Marginal note:Proof — additional certificate

  (8.1) For the purpose of proving that the conditions of subsection 23.1(2) or 152.06(1) are met, the Commission may require the claimant to provide it with an additional certificate issued by a medical doctor or nurse practitioner.

• Marginal note:Mailing address

  (9) A claimant shall provide the mailing address of their normal place of residence, unless otherwise permitted by the Commission.

• Marginal note:Waiver or variation of requirements

  (10) The Commission may waive or vary any of the conditions and requirements of this section or the regulations whenever in its opinion the circumstances warrant the waiver or variation for the benefit of a claimant or a class or group of claimants.

Marginal note:Information

51 If, in considering a claim for benefits, the Commission finds an indication from the documents relating to the claim that the loss of employment resulted from the claimant’s misconduct or that the claimant voluntarily left employment, the Commission shall

• (a) give the claimant and the employer an opportunity to provide information as to the reasons for the loss of employment; and

• (b) if the information is provided, take it into account in determining the claim.

Marginal note:Reconsideration of claim

• 52 (1) Despite section 111, but subject to subsection (5), the Commission may reconsider a claim for benefits within 36 months after the benefits have been paid or would have been payable.

• Marginal note:Decision

  (2) If the Commission decides that a person has received money by way of benefits for which the person was not qualified or to which the person was not entitled, or has not received money for which the person was qualified and to which the person was entitled, the Commission must calculate the amount of the money and notify the claimant of its decision.

• Marginal note:Amount repayable

  (3) If the Commission decides that a person has received money by way of benefits for which the person was not qualified or to which the person was not entitled,

  • (a) the amount calculated is repayable under section 43; and

  • (b) the day that the Commission notifies the person of the amount is, for the purposes of subsection 47(3), the day on which the liability arises.

• Marginal note:Amount payable

  (4) If the Commission decides that a person was qualified and entitled to receive money by way of benefits, and the money was not paid, the amount calculated is payable to the claimant.

• Marginal note:Extended time to reconsider claim

  (5) If, in the opinion of the Commission, a false or misleading statement or representation has been made in connection with a claim, the Commission has 72 months within which to reconsider the claim.

Marginal note:Notification

53 If the Commission is required to notify a person of a decision under this Part, it may have that person notified in such manner as it considers adequate.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

54 The Commission may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations

• (a) prescribing the conditions on which the requirement under this Part or Part VII.1 of serving a waiting period may be waived;

• (b) defining or determining what is a working day or working week in any employment or for the purposes of Part VII.1;

• (c) prescribing the conditions and circumstances under which a claimant

  • (i) while self-employed or employed in employment that is not insurable employment, or

  • (ii) whose pattern of full-time employment differs from the normal and customary employment pattern of employed persons generally,

  is to be considered to have worked or not worked a full working week;

• (c.1) for determining the average number of weeks of regular benefits for the purposes of paragraph 7.1(6)(b);

• (c.2) setting out circumstances for the purposes of paragraphs 10(5.1)(c), 10(5.2)(c), 10(5.3)(c), 23.1(6)(c), 23.2(5)(c), 23.3(4)(c), 152.06(5)(c), 152.061(5)(c), 152.062(4)(c), 152.11(6)(c), 152.11(6.1)(c) and 152.11(6.2)(c);

• (d) defining or determining who are dependent children, prescribing low-income family eligibility criteria and determining the amount of family supplements for the purposes of section 16 or 152.17;

• (d.1) determining, for the purposes of subsection 19(3) or 152.18(3), the period for which benefits were claimed;

• (e) providing for the deduction under section 19 of earnings and allowances mentioned in subsection 19(4);

• (f) determining the amount to be deducted under subsection 20(2) from weekly benefits paid if the claimant normally works other than a five day week;

• (f.1) [Not in force]

• (f.2) [Repealed, 2017, c. 20, s. 240]

• (f.21) defining or determining what is a medical doctor, a nurse practitioner, a family member, a critically ill child and a critically ill adult for the purposes of subsections 23.1(2), 23.2(1), 23.3(1), 152.06(1), 152.061(1) and 152.062(1);

• (f.3) defining or determining what is care or support for the purposes of paragraphs 23.1(2)(b), 23.2(1)(a), 23.3(1)(a), 152.06(1)(b), 152.061(1)(a) and 152.062(1)(a);

• (f.4) prescribing classes of medical practitioners for the purposes of subsections 23.1(3), 23.2(2), 23.3(2), 152.06(2), 152.061(2) and 152.062(2) and setting out the circumstances in which a certificate may be issued by them under subsection 23.1(2), 23.2(1), 23.3(1), 152.06(1), 152.061(1) or 152.062(1);

• (f.5) prescribing a shorter period for the purposes of subsections 23.1(5) and 152.06(4) and prescribing a minimum number of weeks in relation to that shorter period for the purposes of subsections 12(4.3) and 152.14(7);

• (f.6) prescribing requirements for the purposes of paragraphs 23.1(7)(c), 23.2(6)(c), 23.3(5)(c), 152.06(6)(c), 152.061(6)(c) and 152.062(5)(c);

• (f.7) prescribing rules for the purposes of subsections 23(4), 23.1(9), 23.2(8), 23.3(6), 152.05(12), 152.06(7), 152.061(8) and 152.062(6);

• (g) setting out the circumstances that constitute the commencement or termination of a stoppage of work for the purposes of section 36;

• (g.1) for defining as a major contravention for the purposes of subsection 39(5) anything that constitutes an act mentioned in subsection 39(1) or (3) and for setting or calculating the amount or maximum amount of the penalty for the major contravention, up to a maximum of $25,000;

• (h) providing for the making of claims by, and the payment of benefits to, any person or agency on behalf of deceased or incapacitated persons or persons with mental disabilities;

• (i) imposing additional conditions and terms with respect to the payment and receipt of benefits and restricting the amount or period of benefits in relation to persons who by custom of their occupation, trade or industry or under their agreement with an employer are paid in whole or in part by the piece or on a basis other than time;

• (j) prohibiting the payment of benefits, in whole or in part, and restricting the amount of benefits payable, in relation to persons or to groups or classes of persons who work or have worked for any part of a year in an industry or occupation in which, in the opinion of the Commission, there is a period that occurs annually, at regular or irregular intervals, during which no work is performed by a significant number of persons engaged in that industry or occupation, for any or all weeks in that period;

• (k) for the ratification of amounts paid to persons while they are not entitled to them and for writing off those amounts and any penalties under section 38, 39 or 65.1 and amounts owing under section 43, 45, 46, 46.1 or 65 and any costs recovered against those persons;

• (k.1) establishing criteria for defining or determining what constitutes suitable employment for different categories of claimants for the purposes of any provision of this Act;

• (k.2) establishing criteria for defining or determining what constitutes reasonable and customary efforts for the purposes of subsection 50(8);

• (l) respecting the proof of fulfilment of the conditions and the absence of the disqualification from receiving or continuing to receive benefits, and for that purpose requiring the attendance of insured persons at such offices or places and at such times as may be required;

• (m) prescribing the manner in which claims for benefits shall be made and the information to be provided with those claims;

• (n) prescribing the procedure to be followed for the consideration and the examination of claims and questions to be considered by officers of the Commission and the way in which a question may be raised as to the continuation of benefits in the case of a person in receipt of benefits;

• (o) respecting the payment of benefits during any period intervening between an application for the determination of a question or a claim for benefits and the final determination of the question or claim;

• (p) prescribing the time and manner of paying benefits;

• (q) requiring employers to provide information about any matter on which the fulfilment of conditions for the qualification and entitlement for receiving or continuing to receive benefits depends, prescribing the time and manner in which the information shall be provided and requiring the certification or affirmation of the information;

• (r) providing the manner of ascertaining a claimant’s employment history if their employer has failed to provide a record of their employment on separation or the employer is not available or is unable to provide the necessary employment history because their records are destroyed or lost;

• (s) defining and determining earnings for benefit purposes, determining the amount of those earnings and providing for the allocation of those earnings to weeks or other periods;

• (t) establishing criteria for defining and determining what constitutes a supplemental unemployment benefit plan and providing for the making of those determinations, including the consideration of late applications, reconsidering determinations and appeals from determinations;

• (u) defining and determining the circumstances in which and the time at which an interruption of earnings occurs;

• (v) prescribing conditions under which benefits may be paid in advance;

• (w) establishing regions appropriate for the purpose of applying this Part and Part VIII and delineating their boundaries based on geographical units established or used by Statistics Canada;

• (x) determining the regional rates of unemployment produced by Statistics Canada or the averages of those rates that shall apply to a claimant for the purposes of this Part and Part VIII and incorporating in those rates an estimate of the rates for status Indians living on Indian reserves;

• (y) prescribing the information and evidence to be provided by a claimant to prove

  • (i) inability to work because of illness, injury or quarantine, or

  • (ii) pregnancy or the expected date of confinement;

• (z) for carrying out the purposes and provisions of section 14, including regulations

  • (i) respecting the circumstances under which, the criteria by which and the manner in which

    • (A) weeks are to be considered as weeks for which a claimant has insurable earnings during a calculation period, including the number of those weeks to be considered in that period, and

    • (B) amounts are to be considered as the insurable earnings for any week or number of weeks in that period, and

  • (ii) for allocating insurable earnings to a calculation period, for example by including them in that period or excluding them from that period;

• (z.1) for allocating hours of insurable employment to a qualifying period, for example by including them in that period or excluding them from that period;

• (z.2) prescribing

  • (i) the circumstances in which a claimant who leaves employment in accordance with an employer work-force reduction process that preserves the employment of coworkers may, notwithstanding section 30, be paid benefits, and

  • (ii) what constitutes an employer work-force reduction process for the purposes of the regulations;

• (z.3) reducing the special benefits payable when allowances, money or other benefits are payable to a claimant under a plan other than one established under a provincial law;

• (z.31) eliminating the special benefits payable to a claimant in respect of any period that constitutes, under a plan other than one established under a provincial law, an elimination period during which no benefit is payable to the claimant under the plan; and

• (z.4) prescribing anything that by section 2 or this Part is to be prescribed.