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

Before receiving any EI benefits, a claimant must serve a two-week “waiting period” during which he or she is unemployed and otherwise eligible for benefits. These two weeks constitute the first two weeks of the benefit period. The government's 2016 budget proposes to reduce the EI waiting period from two weeks to one week effective January 1, 2017.

This waiting period also applies to pregnancy, parental, and sickness claims. If a claimant works during the waiting period, 100 percent of his or her earnings will be deducted from the first three (and no more than three) weekly benefit cheques.