Amendments to Employment Insurance on undeclared earnings

August 14 2001 - An amendment to the Employment Insurance Regulations has taken effect which repeals Regulation 15 and changes the way undeclared earnings are calculated.

The Employment Insurance (EI) legislation permits claimants to earn up to 25% of their weekly benefits or $50, whichever is the higher, while receiving EI. All of these earnings must be declared. This is intended to encourage people to work while on EI and still have some attachment to the workforce so as to maximize the opportunity to return to full-time work.

Before the amendment, repayment of benefits due to undeclared earnings was calculated over the period of work while on EI. As a result claimants may have had to repay benefits even for weeks in which they had correctly declared earnings. To correct this situation, the new amendment allows the allocation of earnings only to the week in which they were actually earned.

"This change will ensure that claimants will pay back benefits only on the week in which earnings were not declared rather than on the entire period of employment," said Minister MacAulay. "This change will make the calculation of undeclared earnings easier for employers and fairer for claimants."

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