Employment Insurance Regulations

77.91 (1) Pilot Project No. 14 is established for the purposes of assessing whether the extension of the number of weeks of benefits paid to a qualified claimant who undertakes long-term training encourages the claimant to pursue such training and improves their re-employability.

(2) Pilot Project No. 14 applies in respect of every claimant whose benefit period is established in the period beginning on January 25, 2009 and ending on May 29, 2010.

(3) Pilot Project No. 14 applies in respect of every claimant who meets the following criteria:

• (a) the claimant contributed at least 30% of the maximum annual employee’s premium in at least seven of the 10 years before the beginning of the claimant’s benefit period;

• (b) the claimant was paid less than 36 weeks of regular benefits in the 260 weeks before the beginning of the claimant’s benefit period;

• (c) within 20 weeks after the beginning of the claimant’s benefit period or before August 23, 2009, if the benefit period began before May 31, 2009, the claimant has an active return to work action plan; and

• (d) the claimant is referred by the Commission, or an authority that the Commission designates, under paragraph 25(1)(a) of the Act, to a course or program of instruction or training

  • (i) that is full-time,

  • (ii) that has a duration of at least 20 weeks, and

  • (iii) that begins during one of the 52 weeks following the beginning of the claimant’s benefit period, but not before May 31, 2009.

(4) Despite subsections 10(2) and (8) of the Act, the benefit period of a claimant who is included in Pilot Project No. 14 is extended by the duration, in weeks, of the course or program referred to in paragraph (3)(d) — including any periods of interruption of the course or program — and the period granted for job-search purposes, up to a maximum of 104 weeks.

(5) The maximum number of weeks for which benefits may be paid to a claimant who is included in Pilot Project No. 14 is that which is determined by any of subsections 12(2), (3) or (6) of the Act added to, if applicable, the number of weeks that fall within the benefit period established under subsection (4)

• (a) during which the claimant is attending the course or program referred to in paragraph (3)(d) or is searching for a job during the period granted for that purpose; and

• (b) for which no benefits are payable under subsection 12(1) of the Act.

(6) For the application of subsections (4) and (5), the period granted for job-search purposes is equal to one week of benefits for every five weeks of training completed, up to a maximum of 12 consecutive weeks. This period begins on the Sunday after the last day on which the claimant attends the course or program.

(7) If any of the conditions under which the Commission may terminate the claimant’s referral under paragraph 27(1.1)(b) of the Act exists, subsection (5) ceases to apply on the Sunday after the last day on which the claimant attends the course or program.