Bill C-249, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (combined weeks of benefits rule and certain benefits), would amend the federal Employment Insurance Act. Its stated goal is to change how combined weeks of benefits are limited, extend some benefit periods, and increase benefits for care of critically ill adults. The supplied material describes proposed changes; it does not establish that they are in force.
The combined 50-week limit would no longer apply to benefits for pregnancy, parental benefits, or care of a critically ill adult. Other applicable maximums would still apply.
The benefit-period rules would allow extensions in specified circumstances, with one extension capped at 26 weeks.
The maximum for benefits to care for a critically ill adult would rise from 15 to 26 weeks.
For the same critically ill adult, up to 26 weeks could be shared among claimants receiving benefits under the employee and self-employed provisions. Claimants could agree on the division; otherwise, rules set elsewhere would apply.
The bill would repeal Schedule IV of the Act, but the supplied material does not explain the schedule’s effect.
People claiming pregnancy or parental benefits: The combined 50-week cap would not apply to these benefits. The bill does not remove other benefit-specific limits.
People caring for a critically ill adult: The maximum would rise to 26 weeks for the same adult within the specified 52-week period. If more than one person claims, the weeks may be divided by agreement or under rules set elsewhere.
Self-employed claimants: They would be included in the 26-week sharing limit when benefits are claimed for the same adult under the self-employed and employee provisions.
Claimants receiving regular and certain special benefits: The bill would allow an extension when the stated conditions are met, including receiving fewer weeks than the combined maximum allows. The extension cannot exceed 26 weeks. This is not a general extension for every claimant.
Other people: The bill does not directly change tax rates, employment standards, or eligibility for benefits beyond the changes described above.
No cost estimate is included in the supplied material.
The bill would allow up to 26 weeks of benefits for care of a critically ill adult instead of 15, and could allow some claimants to receive more total weeks because of the combined-weeks change. This could increase benefit payments; the amount is not provided.
The bill requires no new appropriation in the supplied text, and it does not state a change to tax rates or fees.
The Employment Insurance Act as currently in force was not supplied, so the existing rules and the full effect of the amendments could not be checked against the Act.
The bill text refers to rules set elsewhere for dividing weeks when claimants cannot agree, but those rules are not included.
The supplied material does not explain what Schedule IV contains or what repealing it would change.
It does not give a start date or explain when the proposed changes would take effect.
It does not provide cost estimates, or details on how claims and benefit-period extensions would be handled.
The change could let eligible claimants receive pregnancy or parental benefits without those weeks counting toward the combined 50-week limit, subject to other maximums.
Increasing the limit for care of a critically ill adult could provide more time for caregiving.
Allowing claimants to agree on how to divide weeks could let people sharing care choose an arrangement that suits them.
Removing the combined 50-week limit for listed benefits could mean more benefit weeks are paid in some cases; the bill provides no estimate of the cost.
The new 26-week limit for a critically ill adult may still leave claimants needing to divide a fixed number of weeks. The supplied material does not explain the fallback rules if they disagree.
The benefit-period extensions depend on specific conditions, but the supplied material does not explain how those conditions would be applied in practice.