Claim Procedure and Entitlement to Benefits

I. The Legislation

Section 48 of the Employment Insurance Act provides that no benefit period shall be established for any person unless that person makes an initial claim for benefit in accordance with section 50 of the Employment Insurance Act and proves that he or she is qualified to receive benefit.

Section 50, subsection 48(1) Employment Insurance Act

A benefit period will not be established unless the claimant supplies information in the form and manner directed by the Commission, giving the claimant's employment circumstances and the circumstances pertaining to any interruption of earnings, and any such other information which the Commission may require.

Subsection 48(2) Employment Insurance Act

On receiving an initial claim for benefit, the Commission shall decide whether a claimant is qualified to receive benefit and notify him or her of its decision.

Subsection 48(3) Employment Insurance Act

No person is entitled to benefits until he or she makes a claim for benefit in accordance with section 50 of the Employment Insurance Act and proves that:

1. he or she meets the requirements for entitlement to benefits set out in the legislation; and
2. no circumstances or conditions exist which would have the effect of disentitling or disqualifying him or her from receiving benefit.

Subsection 49(1) Employment Insurance Act
Section 50 Employment Insurance Act

Section 50 of the Employment Insurance Act provides that claimants who fail to comply with various conditions or requirements will be disentitled from benefits for as long as he or she fails to comply. These requirements are as follows:

1. A claim for benefit is to be made in the manner directed at the office of the Commission which serves the area in which the claimant is residing or at such other place as directed by the Commission;
2. A claim is to be made by completing a form supplied or approved by the Commission;
3. A claim must be made for every week of unemployment within the prescribed time;
4. The Commission may, at any time, require a claimant to supply additional information;
5. The Commission may require a claimant to attend at a reasonable time and at a suitable place to make a personal application for benefits, or to supply additional information;
6. The Commission may require a claimant to register for employment at an agency administered by the government of Canada or a province and to report to that agency at such reasonable times as the Commission or agency directs;
7. The Commission may require a claimant to prove that he is making reasonable and customary efforts to obtain suitable employment;
8. A claimant must supply the mailing address of his normal place of residence unless otherwise permitted by the Commission.

Section 50 Employment Insurance Act

Subsection 26(1) of the Employment Insurance Regulations provides that a claim for benefit for a week of unemployment must be made within three weeks of the week for which the benefit is claimed.

Subsection 26(1) Employment Insurance Regulations

Except as otherwise prescribed by the legislation, a claimant is not entitled to receive benefits for any period during which the claimant is an inmate of a prison or similar institution or is not in Canada.

Section 37 Employment Insurance Act
Section 55 Employment Insurance Regulations

The Commission may waive or vary the conditions or requirements set out in section 50 of the Employment Insurance Act or the regulations whenever, in its opinion, circumstances warrant doing so.

Subsection 50(10) Employment Insurance Act

Section 13 of the Employment Insurance Act provides that a person who qualifies for a benefit period is not entitled to be paid benefits for a two week period that begins with a week of unemployment for which, had it not been for this disentitlement, he or she would have received benefits. This is what is referred to as the waiting period.

Section 13 Employment Insurance Act