Advocates welcome EI changes, but say they should be made permanent,

Modifications include higher minimum payout, parallel benefits for caregivers

Labour advocates welcomed changes to the Employment Insurance program announced Thursday, including new benefits for gig workers and caregivers and a higher minimum payout.

Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said the new parallel benefits for non-traditional workers show the government has taken into account the different types of workers affected by the pandemic, and he hopes these temporary changes signal a more permanent overhaul of the EI system further down the line.

The Liberal government announced Thursday new details about temporary changes to the existing EI program to help more Canadians qualify for benefits. These changes include lowering the number of work hours needed to qualify to 120, using one-time hour credits, adding a minimum benefit rate of $400 per week, and offering at least 26 weeks of regular benefits.

Yussuff said the new minimum benefit raises what some people would have otherwise received by more than a hundred dollars.

The government also announced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit will be extended for four weeks in preparation for the transition, and said around three million workers will be shifted to EI Sept. 27 from CERB, while another two million who wouldn’t be eligible for EI will have new benefits available to them.

The government also announced three additional benefit plans for workers.

The first is the $400-per-week Canada Recovery Benefit, aimed at self-employed and other laid-off workers who are not eligible for EI. The second is a $500-per-week Caregiving Benefit for those who can’t work because they’re taking care of family. The third is a $500per-week Sickness Benefit, for those who can’t work because they are sick or have to isolate due to COVID-19.

Each of these benefits will exist for one year. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland encouraged employers Thursday to bring back their employees and said the new benefits are intended to help people get back to work.

Sheila Block, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said having these benefits in place for a year will give Canadians muchneeded certainty in the face of the pandemic.

She said the changes, albeit temporary, make EI much more accessible and include non-standard workers.

Yussuff said having a benefit specifically for COVID-19 sick leave will hopefully incentivize people to stay home, instead of coming to work, when they have symptoms of COVID-19. He added that these new parallel benefits for gig and contract workers and caregivers will be of particular benefit to racialized people and women, who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

To help Canadians qualify for the benefits, EI claimants will receive a one-time credit of work hours: 300 hours for those claiming job loss benefits and 480 hours for those claiming other benefits such as sickness or parental leave. The credit will be retroactive to March 15, 2020, for claimants looking to transfer early from CERB to EI for non-job-loss benefits. The government announced other changes: A freeze of the EI premium rate for two years and a minimum unemployment rate of13.1per cent in order to lower the hours needed to qualify for EI. This means the minimum hours required to qualify will be 420 hours before the new hours credit. (Previously, workers needed between 420 and 700 hours.) It also announced an EI benefit for self-employed fish harvesters.

Yussuff said, while there may be some things that need ironing out in the coming months, overall he feels Thursday’s announcement hit the right notes.

But he said it remains to be seen whether the EI program is capable of handling the sheer number of claimants.

Yussuff said he hopes the four-week CERB extension will function as “lengthy notice” for people to start planning their transition, taking some of the pressure off the EI system come Sept. 27.

Block said the new changes may need some fine-tuning, and there are still a few gaps; she had hoped to see both more workers able to attest to losing employment, instead of relying on records of employment, and an accommodation for a right to quit. But it’s a “step in the right direction,” she said.