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Ontario|Employment LawEmployment Insurance 608 Eligibility for general benefits If you are an employee who pays Employment Insurance premiums and you lose your job through no fault of your own, you may be entitled to receive general employment benefits. Eligibility is based on two main factors. The first is the reason your job came to an end, and the second is how long you were working before the job ended.
Generally, you will be eligible for Employment Insurance benefits unless you quit without a valid reason, or you were fired for doing something wrong.
There are several valid reasons to quit your job and still be entitled to Employment Insurance benefits. These include: if you face sexual harassment or other types of harassment; if you need to move with a spouse or dependent child to another part of the country; if you experience discrimination; if the working conditions are dangerous to your health or safety; if you have to care for a family member and cannot be employed at the same time; if you get hired for another job which then falls through; if your wages or salary are reduced suddenly; if you have to work excessive overtime or your employer refuses to pay you for overtime work; and if you have a difficult relationship with your supervisor, but you are not the main cause of the problem.
There are several reasons for being fired that will normally make you ineligible for Employment Insurance. These include: if you did not follow your supervisor's instructions; if you stole something; if you were persistently late for work after being warned; or if you got into a physical fight with someone during work. If you are unsure about the reason you were fired, check your record of employment, which is a form that your employer must give you when your job ends. On the record of employment, the employer must state the reason you were fired.
Second, to qualify for Employment Insurance benefits you must have worked for a certain period of time before you lost your job. The qualifying time is calculated in hours, but generally amounts to having worked between 10 and 20 regular work weeks within the last 52 weeks. The exact amount of time required for you will usually depend on which area of Ontario you live in.
There are also special rules for people who are in the work force for the first time or who were out of the work force for some time before their last job. If you are in this situation, you will generally have to work more hours than most other workers before you will qualify for Employment Insurance benefits.
To find out how many hours you need to work to qualify for general benefits, you should contact the local Human Resources Development Canada Centre listed in the Blue pages of your telephone book.
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