{"id":247898,"date":"2020-03-11T21:25:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T01:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=247898"},"modified":"2020-03-11T21:25:21","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T01:25:21","slug":"how-ei-benefits-for-covid-19-quarantines-will-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/11\/how-ei-benefits-for-covid-19-quarantines-will-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How EI benefits for COVID-19 quarantines will work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eligible workers with no or limited paid-leave benefits through their employers can apply for up to 15 weeks of employment insurance if they cannot work for medical reasons such as cancer, a broken leg, or in this case, being quarantined in a public-health threat. (Pexels photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced changes to Canada’s sick-leave benefits under employment insurance Wednesday, to respond to concerns about COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Here is a quick overview of how the program works and what these changes mean:<\/p>\n

What are EI sick-leave benefits?<\/p>\n

Eligible workers with no or limited paid-leave benefits through their employers can apply for up to 15 weeks of employment insurance if they cannot work for medical reasons such as cancer, a broken leg, or in this case, being quarantined in a public-health threat.<\/p>\n

How is the government adjusting the program for COVID-19?<\/p>\n

Normally, a worker who qualifies for the benefits has a one-week waiting period before payments start, so if you’re quarantined for two weeks you’d only get sickness benefits for one of those weeks. For people quarantined due to COVID-19, the government is eliminating the waiting period entirely, so you can get EI benefits for an entire 14-day quarantine. The government previously waived the waiting period, which was then two weeks, during the 2003 SARS epidemic.<\/p>\n

Who qualifies for EI sick-leave benefits?<\/p>\n

Employed Canadians who pay EI premiums, and self-employed people who register to participate in the EI program, will qualify if they cannot work because of a medical condition, have lost at least 40 per cent of their usual weekly pay, and worked a minimum of 600 hours in the year before the claim or since their last EI claim. If you are self-employed and pay into EI, you have to wait at least 12 months after registering to make a claim.<\/p>\n

Do I need a doctor’s note?<\/p>\n

Normally a medical certificate signed by your doctor is required to get sick-leave benefits but a spokeswoman for Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said the government is waiving the note for patients required to go into quarantine by law or by a public-health official. People who are asked to self-isolate by their employers when public-health officials recommend it can also qualify.<\/p>\n

The exact documentation required is still evolving, said Health Minister Patty Hajdu, but she said the goal is to minimize the effort required of a person who needs to go into quarantine.<\/p>\n

What happens if I get sick and the quarantine period is extended?<\/p>\n

If you are put into quarantine as a precaution and aren’t sick then, but later do test positive for COVID-19, a signed medical certificate confirming the diagnosis will be required for you to receive sick-leave EI benefits beyond the initial period of the quarantine.<\/p>\n

How much will I receive from EI sick leave?<\/p>\n

The current EI payment is 55 per cent of your earnings up to a maximum of $573 a week.<\/p>\n

What if I don’t qualify for EI sick-leave benefits?<\/p>\n

At the moment there is no program but the government is \u201cexploring additional measures\u201d to provide some kind of income support for Canadians not eligible for EI sickness benefits.<\/p>\n

How much does the government think it will cost to do this?<\/p>\n

The government is budgeting $5 million to waive the one-week waiting period. However Qualtrough acknowledged the cost could change depending on how widespread the outbreak is in Canada.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced changes to Canada’s sick-leave benefits under employment insurance Wednesday, to respond to concerns …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":247899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247900,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247898\/revisions\/247900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}