Location: Somewhere in dreamland
Posted on: 19-04-09 13:45:42
Employment insurance letting workers down
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
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OTTAWA -- The most severe recession in decades is exposing gaping holes in Canada's social safety net.
Only six months into an economic downturn, social advocates and the jobless say the employment insurance system that was supposed to cushion the fall is in reality either inadequate or so hard to access that tens of thousands of newly unemployed just don't qualify for benefits.
As is always the case in times of economic troubles, it's the most vulnerable in society that are being hurt most by the recession.
EI NOT AS ADVERTISED
It's those Canadians, along with a smattering of individuals with unusual circumstances, who are finding the EI system not as advertised.
After giving birth last May, Maninder Rehsi of Maple, Ont., was only able to acquire 430 insurable hours of work before her employer Progressive Moulded Products succumbed to the recession and went out of business, idling 2,000 workers, including her husband.
Under EI requirements for her region, she was out of luck because she hadn't accumulated 600 insurable hours over the previous 12 months.
Now Rehsi says her husband's benefits are nearly exhausted and she doesn't know how they'll make ends meet if they don't find a job.
Martin Smith of Guelph, Ont., a British manufacturing engineer who was recruited by auto parts maker Linamar four years ago and had been paying EI premiums, only to find out that for him the system was a one-way street.
When he was laid off for about seven weeks this winter, he was told his permit allowed him to work only for Linamar, hence he didn't qualify because he couldn't seek employment elsewhere without a new work permit.
Or Deonarine Persaud of Toronto who lost his nine-year job at a car parts supplier last May and is now barely getting by on his wife's Wal-Mart salary, after his EI benefits of about $400 a week ran out.
\"It's not like I don't want to work,\" said Deonarine Persaud. \"I used to work 50, 60 hours a week sometime. There are no jobs, not just for me, lots of people can't get jobs now.\"
Canada's previously robust labour market began stalling last spring and went into a tailspin last fall, dropping 357,000 jobs since October.
Economists believe as many as 600,000 Canadians could become victims this year of the worst recession in decades and possibly since the Great Depression.
It is precisely for such times that unemployment insurance was created and worked relatively well in the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s.
But unlike the past two slumps, when about 80% of the unemployed collected unemployment insurance, today less than 4%, or 560,000 of the 1.3 million Canadians officially jobless in January, are collecting benefits.
LOW PAYOUTS
What's more, they are likely covered for fewer weeks and are earning far less. Regardless of a worker's salary before being laid off, EI's top payout is $447 a week, and the average payout is abut $325 a week, the equivalent of minimum wage.
That's significantly less than the $595, in today's dollars, that EI recipients were receiving in 1995, according to a calculation by the Caledon Institute, an Ottawa-based social policy think tank.
Sylvain Schetagne, an economist with the Canadian Labour Congress, explains that successive Conservative and Liberal governments in the late 1980s to mid-1990s, cut away at the employment insurance safety net until it was left in shreds.
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 19-04-09 16:17:42
Personally I donot think that the EI is letting people down.
The max. pay out is $447 a week which is very decent and is avialble for 50 weeks now. This translates into a $42,500 max. salary for which EI is allowed of 55% of salary. For the first time (to get EI) you need 910 hours which is around 6 months of work and for subsequent EI claim you need just 600 hours which is around 4 months of work.
If you are with a large family (children), you get lots of free payout from the govt.. Food banks welcome people with EI to give you food.
You can do a free course of upto 28,000 $ fee (Incl. Tution fees, transport and living expenses) and is sponsered for up to 2 years length
So EI is pretty good.
Peace by TK
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
Could u pls provide more information on how one can avail of the $28000 towards taking some courses to improve your job chances?
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 19-04-09 22:06:56
Quote:
Originally pncesosted by prameshCould u pls provide more information on how one can avail of the $28000 towards taking some courses your job cha?
Hi,
There are 2 kinds of EI.
If you are laid off then you are eligible for Second Career (SC). The details are as follows :
up to 2 year max course length
Can be any career (say you are in packaging. YOu can do SAP or IT or Accountancy)
Max. $28000 dole out by govt. for fees, Transportation and Living expenses. (Typical course fee for one year in any college is $3500 to $6500 only)
Second one is Ontario Skills development. (OSD). This is for people receiving EI but not laid off. The details are as follows.
Up to 2 or 3 year course length.
Skill development in your career only
No limit put on website
Once you are laid off / receive EI, you should meet with a counsellor (by your own effort) and they will review your skills and after mutual agreement, ask you to research which course you want to do (backed by solid case studies that you will get employment in this career once you finish the course.). This can take between 2-4 months.
Then they will recommend you to the EI case worker who will approve the fees / institution. Here you will meet with him and ask him for extra money for living / transportation. The EI worker will try to brush you off but you should be adament, tell him that if he does not give you enough money to sustain yourself that you will relocate to the Gulf and that this will be a loss of revenue (tax) to the Govt. you must also be ready to cry. But in all case, you should treat the EI worker with respect and not abouse him or utter unpleasant words. you should make the EI case worker to have pity on you, and once you do that the EI case worker will give you max. money possible (as per govt. rules). This process takes 2 months (Min. one month for the EI case worker to approve your amount as per govt. rules)
You will reverse engineer the process to speed up your application. For example, if you choose to do SAP and know where you want to do it, then the SAP isntitution themselves will do all the documentation for your and you just have to show this to the counsellor. This process will take around just 2 months in total (max.).
Hope this helps and all the best.
Please update us on your status. My status is that I have the first interview with the counsellor on april 22 nd. I have alredy chosen the SAP course that I want to do and the SAP institute has prepared me a resume that I was a SAP end user and has also given me false experience certificate that I have around 2 year experience as a end user.
Peace by TK
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
Thanks for this valuable knowledge TK . All the best !
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Fido.
Location: Weston Road and Eglington
Posted on: 02-06-09 18:24:08
My EI got declined as I applied late. Normally one must apply within 4 weeks.
I dont know any other way to claim it rather than to appeal it.
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 02-06-09 22:33:12
Quote:
Originally posted by yu203967
My EI got declined as I applied late. Normally one must apply within 4 weeks.
I dont know any other way to claim it rather than to appeal it.
some things is wrong here.
I know a case in waterloo where he applied after 8 months and he got EI for 2 months. he did not get the full 45 weeks.
so ask the HDRSC for the appesal process.
Peace
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
