Penalties for giving false or misleading information can be very severe: You will have to pay back all the EI money you should not have received. You might also have to pay as much as 3 times your weekly benefit for every false statement that EI staff think you have made.
The Canada Recovery Benefit will provide eligible workers with $500 per week (taxable, tax deducted at source) for up to 26 weeks for those who are not employed or self-employed due to COVID-19 and who are not eligible for EI, or had their employment/self-employment income reduced by at least 50% due to COVID-19.
If you applied for and received the CERB from CRA and Service Canada for the same eligibility period, please return or repay the CERB to the CRA. If you received the payment by direct deposit, or deposited the cheque, you can mail your repayment to the address listed below.
To use GCKey to
access My Service Canada Account (MSCA) you must have: a GCKey ID.
Request a PAC
- your Social Insurance Number (SIN)
- your parent's family name at birth.
- your postal code if you are a Canadian resident or your country of residence if you are a foreign resident.
You can receive a minimum of 26 weeks of benefits up to a maximum of 45 weeks, depending on the unemployment rate in your region at the time of filing your claim and the amount of insurable hours you have accumulated in your qualifying period – generally the last 52 weeks or since your last claim - whichever is shorter
Wages or salary and commissions. Monetary employment benefits, such as vacation pay, severance pay, wages in lieu of notice, retirement pension, statutory holidays, bonuses, etc. All other employment benefits, monetary or otherwise, such as housing, meals, insurance coverage, etc. Self-employment income.
Determine your eligibility periodsA CERB eligibility period is a specific 4-week period. When you apply for the CERB, you will receive a $2,000 payment for the period that you applied for. The CERB does not renew automatically. You must apply for each period that you are eligible for separately.
While the changes to EI and proposed new programs will help ease the transition when CERB ends, an estimated 482,000 CERB recipients will not be eligible for EI or the new proposed benefits. People in precarious employment may lose out on benefits during this transition.
6. After you've applied. If you are entitled to receive EI regular benefits, you should receive your first payment within 28 days of the date we receive your application and all required documents. You must complete bi-weekly reports to prove your eligibility and to receive benefits to which you may be entitled.
To terminate a claim you must first contact us by calling 1 800 206-7218 ( TTY : 1-800-529-3742). Your decision to terminate a claim is final and cannot be changed.
Yes, you can work while getting EI, but half the amount you earn will be taken off your EI benefits. This applies as long as you do not earn more than 90% of the average insurable earnings your benefit was based on. Under the old rules you could earn up to $75 a week or 40% of your weekly benefit, whichever was more.
Check or update your informationWith My Service Canada Account, you can check the status of your EI application. You can also: view and update your personal information. find out when your payments start and end.
Your EI payments may be delayed if, for example, you received vacation or severance pay from your employer. If your EI payments are delayed or affected in any way, we will let you know in writing. Usually, there is a one-week waiting period at the start of your claim when you will not receive any benefits.
1 800 O-Canada is a general information service and does not usually make unsolicited attempts to contact Canadians. In very rare cases, Service Canada may unexpectedly contact you in the course of delivering Government of Canada services.
