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Published by Groupe Major, February 3rd, 2023
Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits Update:
What you need to know about the new changes
Did you know that as of December 18, 2022, the weeks of sickness benefits paid by Employment Insurance has increase from 15 to 26 weeks. This announcement was made during the tabling of the government’s 2022 budget.
What can group insurance plan administrators do?
Do not make any changes to Short Term Disability (STD) and Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits. The change from 15 to 26 weeks of EI sickness benefits does not require administrators to make changes to STD and LTD benefits to match the new 26-week EI period.
Short-term disability and long-term disability
You may also wish to consider extending your Short Term Disability (STD) and Long Term Disability (LTD) benefit periods to match the new 26 weeks EI sickness benefit period.
If you wish to pursue this alternative, please contact your Major Group advisor to discuss your options.
If you do not know who to contact, you can always contact our service department by clicking on the following link:
For plans with Long Term Disability (LTD) coverage with an elimination period of less than 27 weeks, an overlap of EI and LTD sickness benefit payments will occur. It will be important for you to advise employees who are receiving EI sickness benefits of the following items:
These same employees will be required to notify EI of their long-term disability coverage and the date of acceptance by the insurer, in order to avoid receiving duplicate benefits (EI AND insurer).
What remains unchanged?
The EI Rate Reduction Program remains the same.
This program allows employers with short-term disability (STD) coverage to pay lower EI premiums.
The current eligibility criteria do not change. All plans currently eligible for the reduced premium rate remain eligible.
Do you have any questions?
Your account manager will be available to answer any additional questions you may have and will support you through the process if you need it.
This text was written by the Major Group team, which specializes in group insurance.
Our team is made up of experts in the field, ready to assist you and answer all your questions about group insurance for your company.