Proposed Changes to the Employment Insurance Act
May 2 2001 -
Canadian Labour Congress Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Riche appeared before the Senate
Committee studying Bill C-2 (amendments to the Employment Insurance Act), She told
Senators that they had a duty to end what she considered to be nothing less than
outright discrimination against women.
"Less than a month ago, two sections of the EI Act were found to violate
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because they 'demean the essential human
dignity of women' - something our research has been documenting for years,"
said Riche, referring to Kelly Lesiuk's appeal.
On April 5 Kelly Lesiuk, of Winnipeg, a registered nurse and mother, won an
appeal against denial of benefits from the unemployment insurance system when
she was in need. Justice Roger E. Salhany, sitting as Umpire under the
Employment Insurance Act, found that the current eligibility rules set in 1996
discriminate against women and parents in part-time paid employment. The judgement said:
"(Kelly Lesiuk's) status as a parent and caregiver is one that the
government has no legitimate interest in expecting her to change to
receive equal treatment under the law. When a mother works part-time
because of her unpaid parental responsibilities, she should not receive
inferior employment insurance coverage on that account."
"By basing the threshold for eligibility and the definition of work
attachment on the average work week of 35 hours, the eligibility
requirements fail to take into account the fact that women's average work
week in the paid labour force (30 hours) is 85% of men's average work
week (35 hours). This places the onus on part-time workers (whose average
work week is 16.5 hours) to increase their weekly hours in order to avoid
longer qualification periods and shorter benefit periods. Since women
continue to spend approximately twice as much time doing unpaid work as
men, women are predominantly affected."
Riche argued that the Senate had an obligation to factor this ruling into its
review of Bill C-2, putting an end to the way the current legislation
discriminates against women as well as younger and older workers.
"The Canadian Labour Congress has a vision for a modernized system of
unemployment insurance," says Riche, "one that pays benefits to people who
need them when they need them and where they need them; one that recognizes
the full, equal, and essential participation of women in the workforce; and
one that makes life-long learning accessible to working families."
When she introduced legislation in the Canadian House of Commons, the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development
Canada had justified amendments to the Employment Insurance Act on the grounds of changing needs
of the economy, the labour market and workers. The Minister stated:
"While our ongoing monitoring of the EI program indicates the reforms we
introduced in 1996 are succeeding in helping people find and keep jobs, we're
discovering that some changes have not produced the intended results,"
explained the Minister. "We are meeting our commitment to Canadians to
introduce legislation to amend some measures that are less effective than we
had anticipated."
Adjustments proposed to the Employment Insurance Act reflect
the amendments tabled on September 28, 2000:
- eliminate the Intensity Rule;
- adjust the Benefit Repayment (clawback) provision;
- modify the re-entrant rules for parents returning to the workforce;
- continue to monitor and assess the impact of the EI program until 2006;
- allow the Governor-in-Council to set the premium rates for two years;
- maintain the maximum insurable earnings (MIE) at $39,000; and
- align EI Fishing Regulations with the enhanced maternity, parental and sickness benefits.
For more information on the proposed changes to the Employment Insurance
legislation, visit the HRDC Web site at
The Canadian Labour Congress website is at
includes the modernization plan, the brief on Bill C-2 and statistical studies of
the negative impacts of the changes brought in the 1990s to the unemployment
insurance system (by gender, by age groups, by federal riding and so on).
Canadian Human Resources
