Employment Insurance Regulations (SOR/96-332)

• 8 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4), the following employments are excluded from insurable employment:

  • (a) employment of a person by an employer, other than as an entertainer, in connection with a circus, fair, parade, carnival, exposition, exhibition or other similar activity if the person

    • (i) is not regularly employed by that employer, and

    • (ii) is employed by that employer in that employment for less than seven days in a year; and

  • (b) [Repealed, SOR/98-588, s. 1]

  • (c) employment of a person by Her Majesty in right of Canada, the government of a province, a municipality or a school board in connection with a referendum or election to public office if the person

    • (i) is not regularly employed by that employer, and

    • (ii) is employed by that employer in that employment for less than 35 hours in any year after 1998.

• (2) Where an employment that has been excluded from insurable employment under paragraph (1)(a) or (c) becomes a regular employment, the employment is insurable employment beginning on the day or at the hour, as the case may be, that the employment became a regular employment.

• (3) Where a person has been employed by the same employer in one or more employments that have been excluded from insurable employment under paragraph (1)(a) and the total period of those employments exceeds six days in the same year, the employments, taken together, are insurable employment beginning on the day when the total period of employment began.

• (4) Where a person has been employed by the same employer in one or more employments that have been excluded from insurable employment under paragraph (1)(c) and the total period of those employments exceeds 34 hours in the same year, the employments, taken together, are insurable employment beginning at the hour when the total period of employment began.

• 9 (1) The definitions in this subsection apply in this section.

  agriculture

  agriculture means the operations of farming that are carried out for the benefit of any person who is a farmer and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes

  • (a) where carried out on a farm

    • (i) clearing land for cultivation,

    • (ii) cultivation of the soil,

    • (iii) conservation of the soil, including the construction, maintenance and operation of tile drainage systems, ditches, canals, reservoirs or waterways exclusively for the purposes of farming,

    • (iv) harvesting, storing or grading any natural product of farming,

    • (v) preparing land for the growing and harvesting of wild berries,

    • (vi) raising bees and producing honey,

    • (vii) breeding or raising animals or birds, or producing eggs,

    • (viii) dairy farming and the processing of milk, butter or cheese that is produced on that farm, and

    • (ix) producing maple sap, maple syrup or maple sugar; and

  • (b) where carried out on or off a farm

    • (i) offering for sale or selling any of the products of the operations referred to in subparagraphs (a) (i) to (ix), if the offering for sale or selling is incidental to those operations, and

    • (ii) exhibiting, advertising, assembling, freezing, storing, grading, preparing, processing, packing and transporting the products described in subparagraph (i), if those operations are incidental to the offering for sale or selling described in that subparagraph. (agriculture)

  agricultural enterprise

  agricultural enterprise means the business of agriculture carried on for the benefit of any person who is a farmer. (entreprise agricole)

  horticulture

  horticulture means the following operations and includes all the services incidental to the carrying out of those operations, if the services are performed at the place where the operations are carried on:

  • (a) the propagating, producing, raising or harvesting of

    • (i) vegetables, flowers, shrubs or ornamental grasses, and

    • (ii) seeds, seedlings, grafts or cuttings of vegetables, flowers, shrubs or ornamental grasses; and

  • (b) landscape gardening where it is incidental to the carrying out of

    • (i) any of the operations described in paragraph (a), or

    • (ii) agriculture. (horticulture)

• (2) The employment of a person by an employer in agriculture, an agricultural enterprise or horticulture that would otherwise be insurable is excluded from insurable employment if the person is employed by the employer in that employment for

  • (a) less than seven days in a year; or

  • (b) seven days or more in a year and is not remunerated in cash by the employer for any part of that employment.

Search for Suitable Employment

Reasonable and Customary Efforts

9.001 For the purposes of subsection 50(8) of the Act, the criteria for determining whether the efforts that the claimant is making to obtain suitable employment constitute reasonable and customary efforts are the following:

• (a) the claimant’s efforts are sustained;

• (b) the claimant’s efforts consist of

  • (i) assessing employment opportunities,

  • (ii) preparing a resumé or cover letter,

  • (iii) registering for job search tools or with electronic job banks or employment agencies,

  • (iv) attending job search workshops or job fairs,

  • (v) networking,

  • (vi) contacting prospective employers,

  • (vii) submitting job applications,

  • (viii) attending interviews, and

  • (ix) undergoing evaluations of competencies; and

• (c) the claimant’s efforts are directed toward obtaining suitable employment.

Suitable Employment

• 9.002 (1) For the purposes of paragraphs 18(1)(a) and 27(1)(a) to (c) and subsection 50(8) of the Act, the criteria for determining what constitutes suitable employment are the following:

  • (a) the claimant’s health and physical capabilities allow them to commute to the place of work and to perform the work;

  • (b) the hours of work are not incompatible with the claimant’s family obligations or religious beliefs; and

  • (c) the nature of the work is not contrary to the claimant’s moral convictions or religious beliefs.

  • (d) to (f) [Repealed, SOR/2016-162, s. 1]

• (2) and (3) [Repealed, SOR/2017-27, s. 1]

9.003 [Repealed, SOR/2016-162, s. 2]

9.004 [Repealed, SOR/2016-162, s. 2]

Agreement — Self-Employed Person

Termination of Agreement — Notice

9.01 The notice referred to in subsection 152.02(4) of the Act that the individual gives to the Commission to terminate the agreement shall be given in writing.

Withdrawal of Notice

9.02 The withdrawal of the notice referred to in paragraph 152.02(6)(b) of the Act shall be given to the Commission in writing.

PART IBenefits

Hours of Insurable Employment — Methods of Determination

9.1 Where a person's earnings are paid on an hourly basis, the person is considered to have worked in insurable employment for the number of hours that the person actually worked and for which the person was remunerated.

9.2 Subject to section 10, where a person's earnings or a portion of a person's earnings for a period of insurable employment remains unpaid for the reasons described in subsection 2(2) of the Insurable Earnings and Collection of Premiums Regulations, the person is deemed to have worked in insurable employment for the number of hours that the person actually worked in the period, whether or not the person was remunerated.

• 10 (1) Where a person's earnings are not paid on an hourly basis but the employer provides evidence of the number of hours that the person actually worked in the period of employment and for which the person was remunerated, the person is deemed to have worked that number of hours in insurable employment.

• (2) Except where subsection (1) and section 9.1 apply, if the employer cannot establish with certainty the actual number of hours of work performed by a worker or by a group of workers and for which they were remunerated, the employer and the worker or group of workers may, subject to subsection (3) and as is reasonable in the circumstances, agree on the number of hours of work that would normally be required to gain the earnings referred to in subsection (1), and, where they do so, each worker is deemed to have worked that number of hours in insurable employment.

• (3) Where the number of hours agreed to by the employer and the worker or group of workers under subsection (2) is not reasonable or no agreement can be reached, each worker is deemed to have worked the number of hours in insurable employment established by the Minister of National Revenue, based on an examination of the terms and conditions of the employment and a comparison with the number of hours normally worked by workers performing similar tasks or functions in similar occupations and industries.

• (4) Except where subsection (1) and section 9.1 apply, where a person's actual hours of insurable employment in the period of employment are not known or ascertainable by the employer, the person, subject to subsection (5), is deemed to have worked, during the period of employment, the number of hours in insurable employment obtained by dividing the total earnings for the period of employment by the minimum wage applicable, on January 1 of the year in which the earnings were payable, in the province where the work was performed.

• (5) In the absence of evidence indicating that overtime or excess hours were worked, the maximum number of hours of insurable employment which a person is deemed to have worked where the number of hours is calculated in accordance with subsection (4) is seven hours per day up to an overall maximum of 35 hours per week.

• (6) Subsections (1) to (5) are subject to section 10.1.

• (7) [Repealed, SOR/97-31, s. 4]

• 10.01 (1) If a person is required under their contract of employment to be available for a certain period awaiting a request from their employer to work, the hours during that period are deemed to be hours of insurable employment if the person is paid for those hours at a rate equivalent or superior to the remuneration that would be paid if the person had actually worked during that period.

• (2) Despite subsection (1), if a person is required by their employer under their contract of employment to be present at the employer's premises for a certain period in case their services are required, the hours during that period are deemed to be hours of insurable employment if the person is paid for those hours.

• 10.1 (1) Where an insured person is remunerated by the employer for a period of paid leave, the person is deemed to have worked in insurable employment for the number of hours that the person would normally have worked and for which the person would normally have been remunerated during that period.

• (2) Where an insured person is remunerated by the employer for a period of leave in the form of a lump sum payment calculated without regard to the length of the period of leave, the person is deemed to have worked in insurable employment for the lesser of

  • (a) the number of hours that the person would normally have worked and for which the person would normally have been remunerated during the period, and

  • (b) the number of hours obtained by dividing the lump sum amount by the normal hourly rate of pay.

• (3) Where an insured person is remunerated by the employer for a non-working day and

  • (a) works on that day, the person is deemed to have worked in insurable employment for the greater of the number of hours that the person actually worked and the number of hours that the person would normally have worked on that day; and

  • (b) does not work on that day, the person is deemed to have worked in insurable employment for the number of hours that the person would normally have worked on that day.