Workers displaced by fires seek Employment Insurance benefits
- Linda Mikolayenko | July 21, 2015
After not being able to report to work for two weeks, Glenda Olsen is back on the job at Robertson Trading in La Ronge. When forest fires threatened communities in the Lac La Ronge area and mandatory evacuations were ordered, Olsen headed to a campsite at Candle Lake. Not being able to go to work also meant not getting a pay cheque.
“It was stressful, but we did manage to budget our finances,” says Olsen.
Her husband’s holiday pay and arrangements with creditors for delayed payments also helped. In addition, Olsen applied for Employment Insurance benefits.
“I’m supposed to give them a call to see if I qualify,” she says.
“Employment Insurance (EI) benefits provide temporary financial assistance to those who, through no fault of their own, become unemployed,” says Employment and Social Development spokesperson Marie-France Faucher.
Individuals must meet qualifying and entitlement conditions.
To expedite claims, Service Canada posted a notice on its website advising claimants that they do not have to wait for their Record of Employment (ROE) before applying, and provided a special reference number for those impacted by the forest fires in Saskatchewan.
According to Faucher, as of last Thursday, Service Canada had received 180 applications using that reference code.
Robertson Trading is a family business and owner Scott Robertson says that eight of its staff were without a salary like Olsen was.
However, not all workers from evacuated communities were affected by lost wages in the same way. Some were able to be reassigned by their employers to duties in other locations. Some were able to access other types of paid leave.
Margaret Floch, manager of the La Ronge Co-op store, says that it is part of the Prince Albert Co-op and its insurance policy allowed full-time employees to be paid for the period of the evacuation, although part-time employees were not compensated.
For workers who think they might be eligible for Employment Insurance benefits because of the mandatory evacuation or because of the health advisory, it’s not too late to apply.
“Claimants are encouraged to apply for EI benefits as soon as they stop working,” says Faucher. “A delay in filing beyond four weeks after the last day of work may lead to a loss of benefits.”
However, she adds, “When a person qualifies for regular EI benefits, a two-week waiting period, in which no benefits are paid to the claimant, must be served before the claimant’s benefits can be paid. All claims are adjudicated based on their individual circumstances, and on existing legislation.”
For more information, visit Service Canada's website.
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