Relieving Grieving Parents of an Administrative Burden Act (Evan's Law)

Summary#

The proposed Relieving Grieving Parents of an Administrative Burden Act (Evan’s Law) would amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Canada Labour Code; it does not create a new Act or organization. Its stated aim is to preserve certain EI benefits and parental-leave entitlements when a child dies.

• EI claimants receiving parental benefits: If the child dies while benefits are payable, the claimant would still be treated as caring for the child for the relevant benefit period.
• EI benefit duration: A claimant would receive at least five weeks of benefits after the week the child dies, if needed. The bill would extend benefit periods and benefit maximums to make this possible, subject to a 104-week limit on the specified extensions.
• Self-employed claimants: Similar rules would apply to self-employed people receiving the corresponding EI benefits.
• Employees on parental leave: An employee would still be treated as caring for the child until the relevant period expires. The bill does not state that this leave period is extended by five weeks.
• EI administration: The Governor in Council could make rules about information provided to the Employment Insurance Commission. The bill does not require particular rules to be made.

What it means for you#

• Parents receiving EI benefits for a newborn or a child placed with them for adoption: If the child dies while benefits are payable, the bill would protect continued eligibility and provide at least five weeks of benefits after the week of the death. The benefit-period and maximum-week extensions would remain subject to the stated 104-week limit.
• Self-employed people receiving the corresponding EI benefits: The same minimum-benefit protection would apply.
• Employees entitled to parental leave: The bill would preserve the entitlement after the child’s death until the relevant period expires. It does not create a new bereavement leave or expressly add five weeks of leave.
• Other grieving parents: The bill does not establish a general benefit or leave entitlement for every parent after a child’s death.

Money#

No cost estimate or fiscal note is included in the supplied material.

• The bill could increase EI benefit payments for claimants who qualify for the added weeks; the amount is not stated.
• The bill allows the EI benefit maximums and certain benefit periods to be extended, but does not provide a spending limit or estimate.
• It gives the Governor in Council power to make rules about information for the Commission, but does not require new staff or state a cost for administering the changes.

What is unclear#

• The texts of the existing Acts were not supplied, so the current rules and how much of the bill’s wording would change them could not be checked.
• The bill does not explain how claimants would show that a child has died or what information they would need to provide. It allows rules about information, but does not set them out.
• The bill does not state when those rules would be made or how claims would be handled while rules are absent.
• The bill’s five-week minimum applies to EI benefits. It is unclear from the supplied material how the parental-leave period interacts with other leave rules.
• The bill would start six months after royal assent, on the first Sunday after that date, unless an earlier day is set by order of the Governor in Council. The supplied material does not give a date for royal assent.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to prevent EI parental benefits from ending solely because a child dies during the benefit period.
• A minimum of five weeks of benefits after the week of the death could give an eligible claimant some continued financial support during a period of bereavement.
• Extending benefit periods and maximum weeks, when needed, is a way to deliver that minimum without requiring the claimant to keep caring for a child who has died.
• Preserving parental-leave entitlement until the relevant period expires would avoid ending that entitlement at the moment of the child’s death.

Case against#

• The bill does not set out how claimants must report or prove a child’s death, leaving important administrative details to possible future rules.
• The 104-week limit may restrict extensions in some cases; the supplied material does not explain how that limit would affect a claimant seeking the five-week minimum.
• The bill gives EI claimants a five-week benefits minimum, but does not expressly extend parental leave by five weeks. The protections therefore differ.
• The bill could raise EI payments, but the supplied material does not estimate how many claims would qualify or the cost.