Employment Insurance Act

Marginal note:Regulations

54 The Commission may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations

• (a) prescribing the conditions on which the requirement under this Part or Part VII.1 of serving a waiting period may be waived;

• (b) defining or determining what is a working day or working week in any employment or for the purposes of Part VII.1;

• (c) prescribing the conditions and circumstances under which a claimant

  • (i) while self-employed or employed in employment that is not insurable employment, or

  • (ii) whose pattern of full-time employment differs from the normal and customary employment pattern of employed persons generally,

  is to be considered to have worked or not worked a full working week;

• (c.1) for determining the average number of weeks of regular benefits for the purposes of paragraph 7.1(6)(b);

• (c.2) setting out circumstances for the purposes of paragraphs 10(5.1)(c), 23.1(6)(c), 152.06(5)(c) and 152.11(6)(c);

• (d) defining or determining who are dependent children, prescribing low-income family eligibility criteria and determining the amount of family supplements for the purposes of section 16 or 152.17;

• (d.1) determining, for the purposes of subsection 19(3) or 152.18(3), the period for which benefits were claimed;

• (e) providing for the deduction under section 19 of earnings and allowances mentioned in subsection 19(4);

• (f) determining the amount to be deducted under subsection 20(2) from weekly benefits paid if the claimant normally works other than a five day week;

• (f.1) [Not in force]

• (f.2) prescribing classes of persons for the purposes of paragraph 23.1(1)(d) and paragraph (d) of the definition family member in subsection 152.01(1);

• (f.3) defining or determining what is care or support for the purposes of paragraphs 23.1(2)(b) and 152.06(1)(b);

• (f.4) prescribing classes of medical practitioners for the purposes of subsections 23.1(3) and 152.06(2) and setting out the circumstances in which a certificate may be issued by them under subsection 23.1(2) or 152.06(1);

• (f.5) prescribing a shorter period for the purposes of subsections 23.1(5) and 152.06(4) and prescribing a minimum number of weeks in relation to that shorter period for the purposes of subsections 12(4.3) and 152.14(7);

• (f.6) prescribing requirements for the purposes of paragraphs 23.1(7)(c) and 152.06(6)(c);

• (f.7) prescribing rules for the purposes of subsection 23.1(9);

• (g) setting out the circumstances that constitute the commencement or termination of a stoppage of work for the purposes of section 36;

• (g.1) for defining as a major contravention for the purposes of subsection 39(5) anything that constitutes an act mentioned in subsection 39(1) or (3) and for setting or calculating the amount or maximum amount of the penalty for the major contravention, up to a maximum of $25,000;

• (h) providing for the making of claims by, and the payment of benefits to, any person or agency on behalf of deceased or incapacitated persons or persons with mental disabilities;

• (i) imposing additional conditions and terms with respect to the payment and receipt of benefits and restricting the amount or period of benefits in relation to persons who by custom of their occupation, trade or industry or under their agreement with an employer are paid in whole or in part by the piece or on a basis other than time;

• (j) prohibiting the payment of benefits, in whole or in part, and restricting the amount of benefits payable, in relation to persons or to groups or classes of persons who work or have worked for any part of a year in an industry or occupation in which, in the opinion of the Commission, there is a period that occurs annually, at regular or irregular intervals, during which no work is performed by a significant number of persons engaged in that industry or occupation, for any or all weeks in that period;

• (k) for the ratification of amounts paid to persons while they are not entitled to them and for writing off those amounts and any penalties under section 38, 39 or 65.1 and amounts owing under section 43, 45, 46, 46.1 or 65 and any costs recovered against those persons;

• (k.1) establishing criteria for defining or determining what constitutes suitable employment for different categories of claimants for the purposes of any provision of this Act;

• (k.2) establishing criteria for defining or determining what constitutes reasonable and customary efforts for the purposes of subsection 50(8);

• (l) respecting the proof of fulfilment of the conditions and the absence of the disqualification from receiving or continuing to receive benefits, and for that purpose requiring the attendance of insured persons at such offices or places and at such times as may be required;

• (m) prescribing the manner in which claims for benefits shall be made and the information to be provided with those claims;

• (n) prescribing the procedure to be followed for the consideration and the examination of claims and questions to be considered by officers of the Commission and the way in which a question may be raised as to the continuation of benefits in the case of a person in receipt of benefits;

• (o) respecting the payment of benefits during any period intervening between an application for the determination of a question or a claim for benefits and the final determination of the question or claim;

• (p) prescribing the time and manner of paying benefits;

• (q) requiring employers to provide information about any matter on which the fulfilment of conditions for the qualification and entitlement for receiving or continuing to receive benefits depends, prescribing the time and manner in which the information shall be provided and requiring the certification or affirmation of the information;

• (r) providing the manner of ascertaining a claimant’s employment history if their employer has failed to provide a record of their employment on separation or the employer is not available or is unable to provide the necessary employment history because their records are destroyed or lost;

• (s) defining and determining earnings for benefit purposes, determining the amount of those earnings and providing for the allocation of those earnings to weeks or other periods;

• (t) establishing criteria for defining and determining what constitutes a supplemental unemployment benefit plan and providing for the making of those determinations, including the consideration of late applications, reconsidering determinations and appeals from determinations;

• (u) defining and determining the circumstances in which and the time at which an interruption of earnings occurs;

• (v) prescribing conditions under which benefits may be paid in advance;

• (w) establishing regions appropriate for the purpose of applying this Part and Part VIII and delineating their boundaries based on geographical units established or used by Statistics Canada;

• (x) determining the regional rates of unemployment produced by Statistics Canada or the averages of those rates that shall apply to a claimant for the purposes of this Part and Part VIII and incorporating in those rates an estimate of the rates for status Indians living on Indian reserves;

• (y) prescribing the information and evidence to be provided by a claimant to prove

  • (i) inability to work because of illness, injury or quarantine, or

  • (ii) pregnancy or the expected date of confinement;

• (z) for carrying out the purposes and provisions of section 14, including regulations

  • (i) respecting the circumstances under which, the criteria by which and the manner in which

    • (A) weeks are to be considered as weeks for which a claimant has insurable earnings during a calculation period, including the number of those weeks to be considered in that period, and

    • (B) amounts are to be considered as the insurable earnings for any week or number of weeks in that period, and

  • (ii) for allocating insurable earnings to a calculation period, for example by including them in that period or excluding them from that period;

• (z.1) for allocating hours of insurable employment to a qualifying period, for example by including them in that period or excluding them from that period;

• (z.2) prescribing

  • (i) the circumstances in which a claimant who leaves employment in accordance with an employer work-force reduction process that preserves the employment of coworkers may, notwithstanding section 30, be paid benefits, and

  • (ii) what constitutes an employer work-force reduction process for the purposes of the regulations;

• (z.3) reducing the special benefits payable when allowances, money or other benefits are payable to a claimant under a plan other than one established under a provincial law; and

• (z.4) prescribing anything that by section 2 or this Part is to be prescribed.