Employment Insurance Fairness for the Self-Employed

Good news regarding maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits, for the self-employed.

On November 3, 2009, the Government of Canada introduced the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act. This legislation extends Employment Insurance (EI) special benefits, including maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits, to the self-employed.

The changes give self-employed Canadians the ability to voluntarily opt into the EI program in order to receive the special benefits that mirror those currently available to salaried employees under the EI program. To access EI special benefits, self-employed individuals would need to have earned a minimum of $6,000 in self-employed earnings over the preceding calendar year.

These self-employed Canadians would be required to opt into the program at least one year prior to claiming benefits, and they would be required to pay the same EI premium rate as salaried employees. However, they would not be required to pay the employer portion of premiums, since they would not have access to EI regular benefits.

According to the legislation, the program is scheduled to start this coming January 2010, and as a result, claims could be made as early as January 1, 2011.