07 Sep Not vaccinated? You may no longer be eligible for Employment Insurance in Canada
Not vaccinated? You may no longer be eligible for EI
If you are an employee who has refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, there may be a chance you are no longer able to collect EI. If you are an employee who has been terminated, suspended, or taken a leave of absence due to your refusal to obey vaccine mandates at the workplace, you will not be eligible to receive Employment Insurance (EI).
Employers with vaccination mandates have been given a new responsibility, instructed by Employment and Social Development of Canada, to document the vaccination status of each employee, enabling the Government of Canada to exclude the unvaccinated from EI.
Employment Insurance, or EI, works to provide unemployed workers with the monetary support they need while they look for a new job. An employee becomes eligible for this benefit when the termination of their previous employment relationship was “no fault of their own”.
When an employee fails to comply with vaccine mandates, and is terminated as a result, this could qualify as the employee being “at fault” for their termination. Therefore, they would no longer be entitled to receive the EI benefit. However, for the employee to be deemed at fault for their termination, there must be a serious wrongdoing. A serious wrongdoing is legally defined as an act or omission that produces serious danger to the life, health, or safety to a person or the environment, not including the dangers that already exist in the workplace.
If the employee still feels as though they are deserving of this benefit, they will have to prove that there was just cause for leaving their employment relationship. For example, if the employer refused acceptable accommodation, the employee would not be at fault, and potentially authorized to receive EI.
If you are an employee who believes they are still eligible for EI, please contact KCY at LAW by filling in an online consultation request or contact us by phone at 905-639-0999 to book your consultation today.