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Employment Insurance (EI) Benefits
The purpose of this notification is to provide the necessary information to file for Employment Insurance Benefits for any active Unifor Local 707 Unit #1 (Ford) members that are laid off
(Read the following information very carefully, so that you clearly understand your rights and responsibilities when applying for EI)
There are two steps involved in this process. One, you must apply for EI benefits. Two, you must report your earnings.
Eligibility
You may choose to apply for EI Benefits ONLY IF:
1. You remain available for work.
- This means you are remaining within two hours from your home and in the province of Ontario.
- This means you will report to work any day, Monday through Friday, should the Ford Motor Company, or any other employer call upon you to do so.
2. You accurately report to Service Canada.
- Any absences from Ontario.
- All gross earnings during the week prior to your lay off date, this includes any worked hours, vacation pay from the Ford Motor Company, any other employer or any type of self-employment.
Note: If you are working at the Ford Motor Company and have wages or vacation of more than 24 hours or are in receipt Sickness and Accident or WSIB payments during this scheduled shutdown week, DO NOT apply for EI Benefits at this time.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are not willing to remain available for work or accurately report all absences and earnings you should NOT apply for EI Benefits. If Service Canada were to determine you knowingly withheld information or misrepresented the facts to make a false claim, they will consider it an act of committing fraud; as such you may be financially penalized and/or prosecuted.
New Employment Insurance Claim (EI waiting periods NOT served)
Any person starting a brand new EI claim or serving a waiting period on an existing claim will have any monies earned or received deducted dollar for dollar from any benefit that would otherwise be payable.
Therefore, individuals with any vacation pay or work earnings should seriously consider whether it is worth applying for EI at this time.
As during any Employment Insurance waiting period an individual with gross earnings in excess of $573.00 (the maximum allowable earnings in a waiting period), would not be able to establish a waiting period during this time.
Already Established Employment Insurance Claim (EI waiting periods served)
For those with existing EI claims with a waiting period already served and established by Service Canada, you are eligible to receive a weekly Employment Insurance benefit and any benefit will be reduced by approximately 50% of any gross earnings you report for the week. Should you have no earnings you will be entitled to an EI benefit, to a maximum of $573.00.
Additional Information
Please note you will be asked to provide your last day worked or paid. For those who are asked to work during the weekend, please reflect the last day worked correctly, and remember any earnings for work performed on Sunday will be considered earnings for the week of layoffand may exceed any allowable earnings for EI purposes.
The Ford Motor Company of Canada will submit a Record of Employment (ROE) electronically to Service Canada on your behalf; therefore, you do not need to request copies from Ford payroll.
However, if you were recently hired and currently do not have an established Employment Insurance claim, to obtain the required insurable hours to qualify for Regular EI benefits you may need to request a ROE from any past employers that you may have had over the last 52 week period, which did not previously send your ROE electronically to Service Canada. If your previous employer provides you with a paper format ROE take the Record to a Service Canada outlet or you can pass it on to the In-plant UNIFOR Benefit Office and it will be delivered to Service Canada on your behalf.
Shortly after you complete the application online you will receive a 4-digit Personal Access Code in the mail to use for completing your reports either by phone or online. It is important to complete your reports, for all the time you were unpaid, in a timely manner.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your EI claim or application you can access your EI account online by signing up for a ‘My Service Canada’ account. If it is necessary to call the inquiry line at 1-800-206-7218, be sure to provide the reference code above to ensure you receive the information that pertains to the ‘Automotive Employment Insurance Application’.
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