Avoid Employment Insurance Rejection

Even though all Canadian employees, and their employers, contribute to the federal government’s employment insurance program, there is only a finite amount of money available to distribute to employees requiring employment insurance benefits.

As such, the federal government only looks to issue EI benefits to those individuals who most clearly qualify for their receipt, thereby limiting the amount of money that is paid out.

However, by undertaking such an approach, many legally-entitled employees are rejected from a program that they had personally funded, because the federal government’s practice is to control payments of EI benefits.

When one considers the mandate of the Employment Insurance program, together with the practices and directives set forth by the federal government, one can understand how many employees are denied EI benefits.

One can also see how with certain changes to their approach, an employee might avoid rejection of their EI claim or reverse the initial decision of an employment insurance administrator. For this procedure, as with most other procedures that pay out money, is based on exclusion, with front-line government personnel directed to reject applicants that are incapable of satisfying every criteria in full.

And it is not for those government personnel to navigate the process on behalf of the applicants to establish that an applicant’s individual circumstances do in fact meet the highly specific legal criteria to receive EI benefits.

Instead, this falls upon the applicant, and their lawyer should they seek the legal advice and involvement of knowledgeable legal counsel in attaining the EI benefits that they are legally entitled to.

This is particularly important for employees that are allegedly fired for cause or those who quit or resign their job, as the federal government’s initial default position is to deny those former employees EI regular benefits, when in most circumstances there is a strong legal argument justifying their entitlement to receive EI regular benefits.

Nevertheless, this is a legal question that is driven by factual particulars, which needs to be properly presented to employment insurance administrators to secure an employee’s legal entitlement.

But it is also a sign that there is all too often further money that is due from one’s former employer, as circumstances leading to the rejection of EI regular benefits, reflect complexities that employers have improperly undertaken to the financial detriment of those employees.

For knowledgeable legal counsel with respect to post-employment EI benefits, as well as insights into other legal aspects that far too many employees overlook when their employment ends, contact our law firm for a confidential consultation at Chris@NeufeldLegal.com or 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864.