Employment Insurance Regulations (SOR/96-332)

35 (1) The definitions in this subsection apply in this section.

employment

employment means

• (a) any employment, whether insurable, not insurable or excluded employment, under any express or implied contract of service or other contract of employment,

  • (i) whether or not services are or will be provided by a claimant to any other person, and

  • (ii) whether or not income received by the claimant is from a person other than the person to whom services are or will be provided;

• (b) any self-employment, whether on the claimant's own account or in partnership or co-adventure; and

• (c) the tenure of an office as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Canada Pension Plan. (emploi)

income

income means any pecuniary or non-pecuniary income that is or will be received by a claimant from an employer or any other person, including a trustee in bankruptcy. (revenu)

pension

pension means a retirement pension

• (a) arising out of employment or out of service in any armed forces or in a police force;

• (b) under the Canada Pension Plan; or

• (c) under a provincial pension plan. (pension)

self-employed person

self-employed person has the same meaning as in subsection 30(5). (travailleur indépendant)

(2) Subject to the other provisions of this section, the earnings to be taken into account for the purpose of determining whether an interruption of earnings under section 14 has occurred and the amount to be deducted from benefits payable under section 19, subsection 21(3), 22(5), 152.03(3) or 152.04(4) or section 152.18 of the Act, and to be taken into account for the purposes of sections 45 and 46 of the Act, are the entire income of a claimant arising out of any employment, including

• (a) amounts payable to a claimant in respect of wages, benefits or other remuneration from the proceeds realized from the property of a bankrupt employer;

• (b) workers' compensation payments received or to be received by a claimant, other than a lump sum or pension paid in full and final settlement of a claim made for workers' compensation payments;

• (c) payments a claimant has received or, on application, is entitled to receive under

  • (i) a group wage-loss indemnity plan,

  • (ii) a paid sick, maternity or adoption leave plan,

  • (iii) a leave plan providing payment in respect of the care of a child or children referred to in subsection 23(1) or 152.05(1) of the Act,

  • (iv) a leave plan providing payment in respect of the care or support of a family member referred to in subsection 23.1(2) or 152.06(1) of the Act,

  • (v) a leave plan providing payment in respect of the care or support of a critically ill child, or

  • (vi) a leave plan providing payment in respect of the care or support of a critically ill adult;

• (d) notwithstanding paragraph (7)(b) but subject to subsections (3) and (3.1), the payments a claimant has received or, on application, is entitled to receive from a motor vehicle accident insurance plan provided under a provincial law in respect of the actual or presumed loss of income from employment due to injury, if the benefits paid or payable under the Act are not taken into account in determining the amount that the claimant receives or is entitled to receive from the plan;

• (e) the moneys paid or payable to a claimant on a periodic basis or in a lump sum on account of or in lieu of a pension; and

• (f) where the benefits paid or payable under the Act are not taken into account in determining the amount that a claimant receives or is entitled to receive pursuant to a provincial law in respect of an actual or presumed loss of income from employment, the indemnity payments the claimant has received or, on application, is entitled to receive pursuant to that provincial law by reason of the fact that the claimant has ceased to work for the reason that continuation of work entailed physical dangers for

  • (i) the claimant,

  • (ii) the claimant's unborn child, or

  • (iii) the child the claimant is breast-feeding.

(3) Where, subsequent to the week in which an injury referred to in paragraph (2)(d) occurs, a claimant has accumulated the number of hours of insurable employment required by section 7 or 7.1 of the Act, the payments referred to in that paragraph shall not be taken into account as earnings.

(3.1) If a self-employed person has sustained an injury referred to in paragraph (2)(d) before the beginning of the period referred to in section 152.08 of the Act, the payments referred to in that paragraph shall not be taken into account as earnings.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the payments a claimant has received or, on application, is entitled to receive under a group sickness or disability wage-loss indemnity plan or a workers' compensation plan, or as an indemnity described in paragraph (2)(f), are not earnings to be taken into account for the purpose of subsection 14(2).

(5) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the moneys referred to in paragraph (2)(e) are not earnings to be taken into account for the purposes of section 14.

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the earnings referred to in subsection 36(9) and allowances that would not be deducted from benefits by virtue of subsection 16(1) are not earnings to be taken into account for the purposes of section 14.

(7) That portion of the income of a claimant that is derived from any of the following sources does not constitute earnings for the purposes referred to in subsection (2):

• (a) disability pension or a lump sum or pension paid in full and final settlement of a claim made for workers' compensation payments;

• (b) payments under a sickness or disability wage-loss indemnity plan that is not a group plan;

• (c) relief grants in cash or in kind;

• (d) retroactive increases in wages or salary;

• (e) the moneys referred to in paragraph (2)(e) if

  • (i) in the case of a self-employed person, the moneys became payable before the beginning of the period referred to in section 152.08 of the Act, and

  • (ii) in the case of other claimants, the number of hours of insurable employment required by section 7 or 7.1 of the Act for the establishment of their benefit period was accumulated after the date on which those moneys became payable and during the period in respect of which they received those moneys; and

• (f) employment income excluded as income pursuant to subsection 6(16) of the Income Tax Act.

• (g) [Repealed, 2021, c. 23, s. 347]

(8) For the purposes of paragraphs (2)(c) and (7)(b), a sickness or disability wage-loss indemnity plan is not a group plan if it is a plan that

• (a) is not related to a group of persons who are all employed by the same employer;

• (b) is not financed in whole or in part by an employer;

• (c) is voluntarily purchased by the person participating in the plan;

• (d) is completely portable;

• (e) provides constant benefits while permitting deductions for income from other sources, where applicable; and

• (f) has rates of premium that do not depend on the experience of a group referred to in paragraph (a).

(9) For the purposes of subsection (8), portable, in respect of a plan referred to in that subsection, means that the benefits to which an employee covered by the plan is entitled and the rate of premium that the employee is required to pay while employed by an employer will remain equivalent if the employee becomes employed by any other employer within the same occupation.

(10) For the purposes of subsection (2), income includes

• (a) in the case of a claimant who is not self-employed, that amount of the claimant's income remaining after deducting

  • (i) expenses incurred by the claimant for the direct purpose of earning that income, and

  • (ii) the value of any consideration supplied by the claimant; and

• (b) in the case of a claimant who is self-employed in farming, the gross income from that self-employment, including any farming subsidies the claimant receives under any federal or provincial program, remaining after deducting the operating expenses, other than capital expenditures, incurred in that self-employment;

• (c) in the case of a claimant who is self-employed in employment other than farming, the amount of the gross income from that employment remaining after deducting the operating expenses, other than capital expenditures, incurred therein; and

• (d) in the case of any claimant, the value of board, living quarters and other benefits received by the claimant from or on behalf of the claimant's employer in respect of the claimant's employment.

(11) Subject to subsection (12), the value of the benefits referred to in paragraph (10)(d) shall be the amount fixed by agreement between the claimant and the claimant's employer and shall be an amount that is reasonable in the circumstances.

(12) Where the claimant and the employer do not agree on the value of the benefits referred to in paragraph (10)(d), or where the value fixed for those benefits by agreement between the claimant and the claimant's employer is not reasonable in the circumstances, the value shall be determined by the Commission based on the monetary value of the benefits.

(13) The value of living quarters referred to in paragraph (10)(d) includes the value of any heat, light, telephone or other benefits included with the living quarters.

(14) Where the value of living quarters is determined by the Commission, it shall be computed on the rental value of similar living quarters in the same vicinity or district.

(15) Where the remuneration of a claimant is not pecuniary or is only partly pecuniary and all or part of the non-pecuniary remuneration consists of any consideration other than living quarters and board furnished by the employer, the value of that consideration shall be included in determining the claimant's income.

(16) For the purposes of this section, living quarters means rooms or any other living accommodation.