Temporary waiver of EI waiting period

Summary#

These final regulations amend the Employment Insurance Regulations to temporarily remove the usual one-week waiting period for EI benefits. The change applies to claims set up on or after January 31, 2021 and that begin no later than September 25, 2021.

What it does#

• Waives the standard one-week waiting period for all Employment Insurance benefits, including regular, fishing, sickness, maternity, parental, caregiving, and the special benefits for self‑employed people under the Employment Insurance Act.
• Applies to claims established between January 31, 2021 and September 25, 2021 (the regulations say claims before September 26, 2021 will qualify).
• Makes clear the waiver does not increase the total number of weeks someone can receive EI; it just shifts which weeks are paid. If someone exhausts their entitlement, their payments will end one week earlier than they otherwise would have.
• The temporary change is expected to give an extra week of income to about 600,000 claimants who return to work before using all their benefits.
• Estimated program cost is $320 million, shared between employers ($187 million) and employees ($133 million). This would put upward pressure on EI premiums of under 0.3 cents per $100 of insurable earnings; premiums are frozen for 2021 and 2022, so the cost is spread into later years.
• The temporary provision ends and related text is repealed effective September 26, 2021.

Who's affected#

• People who qualify for Employment Insurance and file new claims in the window — including workers claiming regular, sickness, maternity, parental, caregiver, fishing, and self‑employed special benefits.
• Employers and employees, because the added cost is paid from the EI program and is reflected in future premium calculations.
• People who are not eligible for EI (for example, some recipients of the Canada Recovery Benefit) are not directly helped by this rule.
• The regional distribution of who benefits is uncertain; the government estimated national effects and said regional impacts will roughly follow historical EI patterns.

Why it matters#

• It puts money into the pockets of newly laid-off or otherwise-insured workers sooner — paying the first week that normally would be unpaid. That helps immediate cash flow during the pandemic.
• It reduces a potential disincentive to take time off when sick, which can support public‑health goals (encouraging people to stay home).
• The change costs the EI program money, which slightly increases the future premium burden for employers and employees, though officials expect the impact per employer to be small.
• The measure aligns EI rules more closely with the Canada Recovery Benefit, which already had no waiting period, addressing fairness between different temporary income supports.