Difference between revisions of "Benefit Period of Employment Insurance (8:V)"

If an application for EI benefits was not filed within the first four weeks after the claimant’s last day of work, under s 10(4) he or she can ask that the claim be antedated back to the first date when it could have been filed. The claimant must establish that good cause existed for the delay in filing. "Good cause" must be demonstrated for each day until the date of application was actually made. If the claim is filed within the first four weeks, it is automatically antedated to the first date of eligibility.  

'''What is “Good Cause”?''' Good cause has typically been interpreted narrowly. In one case, the applicant was in the hospital and the Commission denied his application for antedating on the grounds that his wife should have made the claim on his behalf. Simple ignorance of the requirements of the ''EI Act'' has not been considered good cause either, though reasonable reliance on bad advice from the employer, union, a legal advisor or the Commission itself usually meets the requirements.  

Recently some Boards of Referees have started to use a looser definition of good cause. In ''Attorney General v. Burke'', 2012 FCA 139, a man asked for his application to be back dated because he had expected to be rehired and hence did not apply for EI until after the regular deadline.The Board of Referees decided that the standard for good cause was whether any reasonable person would have done the same, and found the  man's case met  this standard. This ruling survived appeals to both an umpire and the Federal Court of Appeal, as the umpire refused to interfere with the board’s decision on the basis that it was reasonable and the Federal Court of Appeal found the umpire’s refusal to interfere was itself reasonable. This case may open the door to similar rulings by other Boards.