Employment Insurance Regulations (SOR/96-332)

Electronic Systems

90 Where any information is provided to the Commission in electronic or other form for the purposes of the Act or the regulations made under the Act, it shall be provided in a form and manner approved by the Commission.

• 91 (1) A claimant who makes an initial claim for benefits, or a claim for benefits for a week of unemployment, by telephone or other electronic means, and provides the information required by section 50 of the Act, is deemed

  • (a) to have expressed an intention to make a claim for benefits and to have made such a claim for the purposes of section 48, 49 or 152.1 of the Act, as the case may be; and

  • (b) to have supplied the information recorded on the dated printout from the Commission's computerized benefit pay system as responses to the questions posed by the interactive response system by telephone or other electronic means.

• (2) A claimant who provides their Social Insurance Number and the following information by telephone or other electronic means is deemed to have signed their respective claim for benefit:

  • (a) in the case of an initial claim for benefits, their date of birth and, if the initial claim is made by electronic means, the maiden name of the claimant's mother; and

  • (b) in the case of a claim for benefits for a week of unemployment, their personal identification number.

• (3) A claim for benefits that is made by the means referred to in subsection (1) is deemed to have been made on the day that the information is received and recorded by the Commission's computerized benefit pay system.

• (4) For greater certainty, sections 38 and 135 of the Act apply to a declaration made by electronic means.

• (5) The acts and omissions specified in subsections 38(1) and 135(1) of the Act are deemed to include the acts and omissions of a person who knowingly attempts to interfere with the operation of the electronic systems used in the administration of the Act, and the penalty provided for by subsection 38(2) of the Act and the punishment provided for by subsection 135(3) of the Act are deemed to include the right to refuse access to those electronic systems to such a person.

Direct Deposit of Benefits

• 92 (1) For the purposes of this section, sections 2 and 4 to 8 of the Direct Deposit Regulations apply.

• (2) Subject to subsection (7), a claimant shall have their benefits deposited directly to their bank account if the claimant has provided the Commission with the number of an active account registered in the claimant's name in a financial institution in Canada.

• (3) A claimant is responsible for the accuracy of the data supplied by the claimant in order to register for the direct deposit of benefits.

• (4) In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the following documents together constitute evidence of the transfer of funds to a claimant's account and the payment of benefits to the claimant:

  • (a) a document certified by a person acting for the Commission to be an extract from the record authorizing a direct deposit transaction, in respect of the claimant, to be directed to the financial institution where the account of the claimant is located; and

  • (b) a certified extract of the records of that financial institution indicating the crediting of the amount of the deposit to the account of the claimant.

• (5) In order to terminate the direct deposit of benefits, the claimant shall notify the Commission.

• (6) For greater certainty, sections 38 and 135 of the Act apply to declarations made in the context of the payment of benefits under this section.

• (7) The acts and omissions specified in subsections 38(1) and 135(1) of the Act are deemed to include the acts or omissions of a person who knowingly attempts to interfere with the operation of the electronic systems used for the direct deposit of benefits, and the penalty provided for by subsection 38(2) of the Act and the punishment provided for by subsection 135(3) of the Act are deemed to include the right to refuse access to those electronic systems to such a person.

• (8) Unless otherwise advised by the claimant, the Commission may redirect the deposit of benefits from an active account at a financial institution the number of which was provided to the Commission by the claimant to another financial institution, branch or active account number when the financial institution notifies the Commission of a change of the financial institution, branch or account number.

PART VIAlternate Access to Special Benefits

• 93 (1) An insured person who does not qualify to receive benefits under section 7 of the Act and who is claiming special benefits qualifies to receive the special benefits if the person

  • (a) has had an interruption of earnings from employment; and

  • (b) has had 600 or more hours of insurable employment in their qualifying period.

• (2) Notwithstanding section 9 of the Act, where an insured person who qualifies under subsection (1) to receive special benefits makes an initial claim for benefits, a benefit period shall be established in respect of the person and, once it is established, special benefits are payable to the person in accordance with this section for each week of unemployment that falls in the benefit period.

• (3) Subject to subsection (4), sections 22 to 23.3 of the Act apply to the payment of special benefits under this section.

• (4) Notwithstanding section 18 of the Act, a claimant is not entitled to be paid special benefits for a working day, in a benefit period established under this section, in respect of which the claimant fails to prove that on that day the claimant was

  • (a) unable to work because of an illness, injury or quarantine referred to in subsection 40(4) or (5) and that the claimant would otherwise be available for work; or

  • (b) entitled to benefits under section 22, 23, 23.1, 23.2 or 23.3 of the Act.

• (4.1) A claimant to whom benefits are payable under any of sections 23 to 23.3 of the Act and whose claim for benefits because of illness, injury or quarantine is made for a week that begins on or after the day on which this subsection comes into force is not disentitled under paragraph (4)(a) for failing to prove that they would have been available for work were it not for the illness, injury or quarantine.

• (5) Subject to section 18 of the Act, regular benefits and additional special benefits are payable for a week of unemployment to a claimant who has received special benefits under this section where

  • (a) the claimant has accumulated, since the beginning of their benefit period, a number of hours of insurable employment that, when added to the number of those hours in their qualifying period, equal or exceed the number of hours set out in the table to subsection 7(2) of the Act in relation to the regional rate of unemployment that was applicable to the claimant at the beginning of their benefit period; and

  • (b) any regular benefits or additional special benefits are payable to the claimant in that benefit period in accordance with the Act, based on the hours of insurable employment in the claimant's qualifying period.

• (6) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the provisions of the Act and these Regulations apply to claimants claiming benefits under this section.

PART VIITransitional Provisions and Coming into Force

Transitional Provisions

94 During the period beginning on June 30, 1996 and ending on January 4, 1997, a reference to "hours" in each of the following provisions shall be read as a reference to "weeks", with such modifications as the circumstances require:

• (a) subsection 35(3);

• (b) paragraph 35(7)(e);

• (c) subparagraph 37(2)(c)(ii);

• (d) subparagraph 56(2)(b)(iv);

• (e) section 88; and

• (f) subsection 93(5).

94.1 Where, for the purposes of the Act and in respect of a benefit period established on or after January 5, 1997, a claimant presents evidence of a week of insurable employment that occurred before January 1, 1997, that week of insurable employment shall be considered to represent 35 hours of insurable employment.

94.2 Where, for the purposes of the Act and in respect of a benefit period established on or after January 5, 1997, a claimant presents evidence of insurable employment that occurred before January 1, 1997,

• (a) the weeks of insurable employment shall be considered to fall consecutively backward beginning on whichever of the following days occurred first:

  • (i) the last day of the last pay period in 1996, and

  • (ii) the last day of remunerated insurable employment if that day falls before the last pay period in 1996; and

• (b) if the number of weeks of insurable employment is

  • (i) 20 or less, the insurable earnings are considered to be for that number of weeks, and

  • (ii) greater than 20, the insurable earnings are considered to be for the last 20 weeks in the period of employment.

94.3 For the purpose of providing for the transition from weeks of insurable employment to hours of insurable employment where the remuneration for the last pay period beginning in December 1996 is paid to an insured person by their employer on or after January 1, 1997,

• (a) the employer shall assess the insurability of the employment of that final pay period under these Regulations as they read on January 1, 1997; and

• (b) the claimant shall, for the purposes of sections 7 and 12 of the Act, be determined to have worked in insurable employment for the greater of

  • (i) the number of hours provided for by section 94.1, and

  • (ii) the number of hours actually worked in each week or part of a week of insurable employment, of the final pay period, that falls in 1996.

94.4 Where, after January 5, 1997, section 59.1 of the Unemployment Insurance Regulations, as it read on June 29, 1996, applies and where the application of that section requires the consideration of insured weeks of employment in 1996 or earlier, section 94.1 of these Regulations shall be applied to convert those weeks in 1996 or earlier into hours and the number of weeks stipulated by paragraphs 59.1(2)(a) and (b) of the Unemployment Insurance Regulations shall be converted into an hourly equivalent by multiplying the number of weeks required by 35.

Coming Into Force

• 95 (1) Except as otherwise provided in this Part, these Regulations come into force on June 30, 1996.

• (1.1) Sections 10 to 12 come into force on January 1, 1997.

• (2) Sections 19 to 21 come into force on January 1, 1997.

• (3) Sections 22 to 24 and 34, the Table to subsection 55(7) and paragraph 93(1)(c) come into force on January 5, 1997.

• (4) The provision set out in Part I of Schedule III applies during the period beginning on June 30, 1996 and ending on December 31, 1996.

• (4.1) The provision set out in Part I.1 of Schedule III applies in place of section 12 listed in subsection (1.1) during the period beginning on September 12, 1996 and ending on December 31, 1996.

• (5) The provisions set out in Part II of Schedule III apply in place of the provisions listed in subsections (2) and (3) from June 30, 1996 until the coming into force of those provisions.