Anyone considered to be ‘like family’ can take up to eight weeks off to care for a dying loved one
Nearly six months after Paul Martin’s Liberals promised to expand the eligibility criteria for the federal compassionate care benefit, the Stephen Harper Conservative government has implemented the changes.
When the benefit was first introduced three years ago, employees who qualified for special benefits from employment insurance could get up to eight weeks off work, six weeks of which would be paid for by EI, if they were caring for a dying spouse, child or parent.
Under amendments, which took effect June 15, employees who care for a brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, foster parent, ward, guardian or a gravely ill person who considers the employee to be like family, will also be eligible.
“Ninety to 95 per cent of caregivers are close family members (a parent, spouse or child) but there’s another five to 10 per cent of caregivers who are not a parent, spouse or child,” said Mike Duffy, director of legislative and regulatory and policy design at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.
The strict family definition was one of the reasons the user rate for the benefit was so low, according to a Health Council of Canada report released last December. The government had estimated 270,000 Canadians would be eligible for the program each year. However, from April 2004 to March 2005, only 3,686 claims were approved.
When the program was first designed, there was always the possibility that the definition of family would change after the government saw how it was working out, said Duffy.
“We’re a world leader in this area. No other country had a benefit like this that went that far,” he said. “We didn’t have a lot to go on for the design in terms of precedence.”
Even with the expanded definition of family, there are still several barriers to the benefit that have not been addressed. The program only pays 55 per cent of the employee’s earnings up to $413 a week for six weeks and not all provinces have legislation in place that offers job protection to employees.
Currently, Alberta and the Northwest Territories don’t provide job protection for employees who take time off work to care for a dying relative, so employees have to check with employers first to ensure their jobs will be waiting for them when they return.
The other provinces and territories have some protection in place, but some only cover the basic definition of family member (parent, spouse or child) so some employees eligible for the EI payment don’t have guarantees their jobs are protected.
The benefit is available to full-time and part-time employees who have 600 hours of insurable employment in the year before the claim and have an interruption of earnings or a reduction of more than 40 per cent in normal weekly earnings.
When the benefit was first introduced three years ago, employees who qualified for special benefits from employment insurance could get up to eight weeks off work, six weeks of which would be paid for by EI, if they were caring for a dying spouse, child or parent.
Under amendments, which took effect June 15, employees who care for a brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, foster parent, ward, guardian or a gravely ill person who considers the employee to be like family, will also be eligible.
“Ninety to 95 per cent of caregivers are close family members (a parent, spouse or child) but there’s another five to 10 per cent of caregivers who are not a parent, spouse or child,” said Mike Duffy, director of legislative and regulatory and policy design at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.
The strict family definition was one of the reasons the user rate for the benefit was so low, according to a Health Council of Canada report released last December. The government had estimated 270,000 Canadians would be eligible for the program each year. However, from April 2004 to March 2005, only 3,686 claims were approved.
When the program was first designed, there was always the possibility that the definition of family would change after the government saw how it was working out, said Duffy.
“We’re a world leader in this area. No other country had a benefit like this that went that far,” he said. “We didn’t have a lot to go on for the design in terms of precedence.”
Even with the expanded definition of family, there are still several barriers to the benefit that have not been addressed. The program only pays 55 per cent of the employee’s earnings up to $413 a week for six weeks and not all provinces have legislation in place that offers job protection to employees.
Currently, Alberta and the Northwest Territories don’t provide job protection for employees who take time off work to care for a dying relative, so employees have to check with employers first to ensure their jobs will be waiting for them when they return.
The other provinces and territories have some protection in place, but some only cover the basic definition of family member (parent, spouse or child) so some employees eligible for the EI payment don’t have guarantees their jobs are protected.
The benefit is available to full-time and part-time employees who have 600 hours of insurable employment in the year before the claim and have an interruption of earnings or a reduction of more than 40 per cent in normal weekly earnings.
