By Zaid Noorsumar
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) introduced this week by the Liberal government is a vast improvement over the beleaguered Employment Insurance system but still excludes many people.
The CERB applications are expected to be available online on April 6 with payments to be issued within 10 days. Recipients will be paid $2,000 per month to a maximum of four months.
The CERB technically covers all people whose income has been affected by COVID-19 after March 15, including self-employed, freelance and gig economy workers. Eligible applicants must have earned at least $5,000 over the past 12 months and must have a social insurance number (SIN).
However, CERB is inaccessible for undocumented and temporary foreign workers (TWF), newcomers and refugees as well as about 650,000 people who were unemployed before the pandemic began.
Employment Insurance overwhelmed
The CERB will process applications and roll out payments quicker than Employment Insurance (EI), which has a more stringent eligibility criteria and has been swamped by a massive influx of applications since the COVID-19 outbreak. The government says the EI system wasn’t designed to handle such a large number of requests. As recently as March 26, one Service Canada worker told Rankandfile.ca that EI claims are already around 1.3 or 1.4 million.
According to David Macdonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), the vast majority of the 1.5 million people who have been laid off since March 15 qualify for CERB.
“If you became unemployed after March 15 then it’s open season,” Macdonald says. “Almost anyone can get CERB.”
However, 1.1 million people were unemployed in February 2020 and are excluded from CERB. Of those, about 650,000 people are also ineligible for Employment Insurance.
“The 650,000 or so people that didn’t get access to EI, they get nothing from EI and they get nothing from CERB. And that’s a pretty big group,” Macdonald says.
According to Macdonald’s CCPA report released earlier this month, only 33 percent of unemployed women and 38 percent of unemployed men received Employment Insurance payments in 2018.
People don’t qualify for EI due to multiple reasons including not having worked enough hours, or not contributing to Employment Insurance (such as gig economy workers).
The discrepancy between CERB and EI payments
Macdonald estimates that about 300,000 out of the 1.1 million unemployed people in February – before the pandemic – are currently receiving EI benefits. But he says that about two-thirds of those people are receiving less money from EI than they would if they were on CERB.
EI payments max out at $573 per week or $2,292 a month but most people receive less than that. This is partly due to the program delivering a maximum wage replacement of 55 percent of lost income.
The discrepancy between EI and CERB payments could be a source of fiction between workers, says Pam Frache, provincial coordinator for the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign in Ontario.
She cites the hypothetical example of a worker in Saskatchewan, laid off from a minimum wage job ($11.32/hour) and earning less than $800 a month on EI, while others will now receive $2,000 a month.
Both Macdonald and Frache say the federal government should ensure all EI recipients are paid at least $2,000 a month to rectify this problem.
“We have to make sure that those people who have been in extreme precarity and are now having to survive on employment insurance, they need fair treatment,” Frache says. “And that means no one gets less than $500 a week in income support.”
The inadequacy of the social safety net
The monthly CERB rate of $2,000 is an implicit acknowledgment by the government that anything less is insufficient, Frache says.
She says that the emergency benefit speaks to the inadequacy of multiple income support programs including employment insurance, social assistance, old-age security pension and workers’ compensation.
“The [CERB rate] is a huge recognition of what the real problems are in our long-term social safety net,” she says.
“We should look at that and say, ‘This is a good first step that we are trying to provide these minimum income supports, but we need a dramatic improvement in our ongoing social safety nets.’”
Frache also points out to the absence of paid sick and emergency leave for workers who have been left stranded on the front lines, or in some cases been forced to use vacation days for illness.
She cites the example of grocery store employees, health care workers and others who haven’t been in the position to take time off work even if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms (although the CERB will now provide workers paid time off but not if they became sick before March 15).
Her campaign is calling on the government to institute 21 paid emergency leave days – seven permanent and 14 additional days for pandemics.
Locked out of CERB
Macdonald says at this time the government has rightly made fast policy decisions rather than spending time on great policy initiatives, citing the wage subsidy for small and medium-sized enterprises as working in concert with CERB.
“The CERB reasonably well-designed, considering how fast it went out the door. And they seem to be willing to change it on the fly,” he says.
The government will certainly have to improvise if the program is to comprehensively cover all people in need. The Fight for $15 and Fairness is urging people to call cabinet ministers towards that effect.
Frache is concerned that the benefit won’t reach vulnerable people including those without status – such as migrant workers or newcomers and refugees.
“It’s ironic that the federal Liberals have ostensibly been the champions of refugees,” she says. “And yet, some people who’ve just arrived in Canada won’t yet have their social insurance numbers [and won’t be eligible for CERB].”
“Whether we are undocumented, whether we are eligible for or receiving EI, or whether we are part of the gig economy, we all deserve immediate access to income supports. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from this pandemic, it’s that we can’t protect ourselves unless we protect everyone.”
Yes and ei wasn’t designed to support people’s base exspenses at 55 percent. We all got laid off and it wasn’t until a full week later that cerb existed. Now if we get approved for ei, we can’t get cerb. But oh wait, cerb says you can’t have recieved any income for 14 full days. So now if we get a final cheaque or any kind of residual vacation pay , we have to wait another 14 days to be eligible for cerb. Keep in mind we haven’t worked since the 15th, and no money is coming in. Plus the wait time,so even at the fastest possible application with no hiccups, ppl are looking at an entire full blown month to month and a half before cerb eligible ppl get a dime. By then, all thier Bill’s are behind and now doubled. And the best case scenario. If your ei application is under review, you basically have to just sit and wait and can’t get through to service Canada or ei by phone to have a reasonable conversation about what your circumstances are. And even better, as a server in a restaurant we can’t declare tips as income on e.i. only our hours. So even through we declare our tips on our taxes each year and pay, we still get stuck with 55 percent of between 15 to 20 hours per weeks worth of pay on ei. And we must use ei first?! How do they expect servers to survive on that exactly?! First off, ei needs to be brought up to match the 2k cerb payout. For fairness, and because no one can be expected to live off less. Ei was designed to provide a cushion while one looks for a new job, but in a pandemic it’s far less likely that ppl will find a new job that won’t directly expose them to covid19, so that’s unrealistic and unreasonable. And with everything closing it’s even worse. Then we have a 14 day of no pay restriction for a cerb application. It should be 14 days of no work, not no pay. We our basically being penalized for receiving our last cheaque and because our last paychecks were processed before march 15th, they didn’t include our vacation pay. Yup, you guessed it, that big $17.50 I have in vacation pay or whatever you have now goes onto the next pay period and now you even be eligible for cerb until april 16th…so it shouldn’t be 14 days of no pay, but rather 14 days of not working. That would be fair. And ei must be bumped up to match the 2k payments.
I totally agree…I am getting almost nothing on ei being a server..doesnt matter that I claimed 1000’s on my income taxes. They only base it on my weekly pay. And I thought I’d survive a little with the cerb only to be seeing that no I will get 218 bucks a week vs others that are 500. All because why? It should be across the board for anyone eligible for either ei or cerb to get the same amount during this unprecedented time. My ex who squeaks by with the 5000 income gets to apply and receive more than I do when I am the one who actually works for a living.
Can you even receive cerb if you didn’t have 14 consecutive days no pay in the initial 4 weeks? I keep reading you need to have two consecutive weeks off in the first four weeks to be able to recieve any of the next few months of pay. Am I reading this wrong??
I totally agree with you that the Amount on EI should be the same as
CERB
On EI the maximum you will receive is $475 @ week so you have to pay tax on the gross amount of $547 .00
Technically your income get tax on top of taxes
This is not fair I work for a seasonal business and I receive $300 @ month on EI
Someone that didn’t work or paid taxes will receive an extra $800 a month more than me under cerb
It’s only logical that EI and CERB amounts be the exact same
im pretty sure its 14 consecutive days of no work, and not after the final paycheque. for example, I worked till march 21 and applied for cerb on april 6, which gives me 16 full days of no work, so im eligible. Even if I got my paycheque on april 7 (because of the payroll times) for my march 16-21 work days I still didnt work for 14 days consecutively which means the income doesnt come from those days which means ur still eligible. so no im pretty sure u dont need to wait another 14 days just cuz of ur final paycheque as long as u have 14 consecutive days of no work in the period of march 15-april 11
It’s possible I missed something but is there help available for those front line minimum wage workers who’s hours have been cut due to early store closures and/or reduced staffing? These people continue to work while there pay drops far less than $2000 /month. Many companies have increased wages by $2 an hour, but when hours end up cut by 10 or 12 a week, the result is no where even close to the drop in an income that already has them living paycheck to paycheck.
Totally true. Essential workers who are getting paid less (hours are cut) and are risking their lives to go to work are not eligible to this benefits. Meanwhile, a 17 year old retail worker who normally gets less than 300$ a week is getting 500$ now being cozy at home. I work at healthcare, but I am not getting enough hours because not all areas in the hospital are busy right now because of the pandemic. My hours are cut, I am earning around 1400-1600 a month, clearly less than people that are eligible for CERB.
I know it sounds very selfish to be complaining right now in the midst of a crisis, but I don’t think the people that they call “essential” are being treated as everything but essential right now.
I’d like to see some support for students. My son earns his tuition for the next school year over the summer months. It’s unlikely that he will be able to earn enough this coming summer, and we are going to be in a terrible position to help him. My job shut down 2 weeks ago. My husband’s company is having trouble scheduling work with the pandemic and may also be facing shutdown. I do not want my son to have to take a semester off come fall. He works hard year round. In summer, he works 50-55 hour weeks. The rest of the year, he focuses on school. I’m fairly certain that he’s not the only student in this position.
My son as well. And we have too high income in prior year to qualify for grants. Only loans. Even though 2020 income will be lower, they normally use prior year income to determine eligibility.
I seem to of fallen into a crack with all of this. I was off on sick leave in February, and now that I’m due back to work, it has closed down due to covid-19. My sick benefits were much lower than what others will receive from CERB. Those who are paid less and worked part time will now make much more than I’m eligible for, just because I had surgery in February and that makes me ineligible now.
I was on sick benefits until February 15 when the I reached the 15 weeks, because I was on probation, my contract was terminated and even tough I could apply for regular after exhausting the sick benefits, but I cannot physically work, therefore I am not eligible and still waiting for surgery; now I am not eligible for CERB either. Need some help.
I got laid off and I am not a Work Permit. I have earned more than $5000 in the past 12 months. So I am not eligible ? :O
As a single mother with 2 children I was absolutely broken when I see that my ei claim has gone through and that I will will recieve a little over $300 a week with rent and Bill’s to pay while others can get CERB and get a $2000 a month.. yes child tax is going up but not until May my bills will just keep going up and no way to pay them and feed my children.. something needs to be changed with this ei it should be fair across the board… cannot even get through the phone lines to speak with someone… please someone tell me what my next steps are
I’m in a similar situation… potentially going to lose $400 a month just because I applied for EI two days earlier than other people. Anyway I was trying to find answers yesterday and ran into this:
https://www.unifor.org/en/faq-new-canada-emergency-response-benefit-cerb
It says this: “Currently, we believe it is most advantageous for EI eligible workers to apply directly to EI, and not wait for the CERB application process to come online. EI benefits paid to workers who apply on or after March 15 will mirror CERB payments for the first 16 weeks. We believe applying for EI will better assist workers, particularly those who expect to continue receiving EI benefits after the initial 16-week period has expired.”
So it sounds like ei benefits will be temporarily increased to match CERB.
Alternatively, I was thinking of just applying for both, and then claiming the cerb on my ei reporting as ‘other income’ so its deducted from ei… yet ei is still there once cerb is over. Not sure if it will work but I’m going to try if I have to.
Good luck!
Ircc messes up took 6 months to get work permit. Business for self and can’t get a sin caused closed and and can’t work due to covid. I want to apply for cerb but can’t with no sin!!’
As someone who has worked at Service Canada I can tell you that this won’t work well. Firstly, if you try to apply for both benefits, the CERB application clearly states that you cannot apply for it if you have applied for EI and you have to “attest” that you have not and that any info you provide that is not true can have criminal implications. Secondly, if you were able to apply for both and got CERB and declared it as other income on your report, that report gets automatically bounced out of the system as this other income needs clarification before your report can be processed. What does this mean? It means your report is put in limbo, does not process or pay anything owed until you contact EI to explain what that other income is. And no further reports can go through until that one clears..and good luck getting through to someone!
Dear it will be $ 2,000 they just put that amount that you would originally get but it is going to be converted in the cerb …so do not worry yourself check your account you will see the 2,000 bucks all the best
It looks like those people that work from their homes and are incorporated and in receipt of dividends will be excluded and those that receive dividends in lieu of earnings will be excluded. For mom and pop businesses where the technician does receive earnings in order to be covered by Workers Compensation the technician would receive benefits and the office person would not. This indirectly fails women entrepreneurs since typically the office person is female. And for those men and women that are single and are in receipt of dividends only – accountants, consultants and many others – they are very much left out. Keep in mind, most of these people are not wealthy. Those chose to incorporate to minimize their risks and hopefully save on taxes and generally pay a lot in taxes and support their local communities.
I’m hoping someone can help. As of March 25th my COVID-19 related EI claim was under review. Since then my claim has gone through and I’m now receiving benefits. Will receiving these benefits have an impact on my eligibility for CERB? I assume that I’ll still be eligible but I don’t want to rest on assumptions.
This article misses a couple very important flaws in this legislation. The CERB requires that you have zero income for 14 consecutive days during the 4 week period for which you are applying. It also says you are ineligible if you voluntarily quit work. So if you are one of the thousands of self-employed or gig economy workers and you lost 90% of your customers, you are ineligible. Even if you received $50 in that 14 day period, you are ineligible. And if you decide to just shut down, you are ineligible because you voluntarily quit working. This legislation will deny thousands of Canadian workers much needed support or will force these workers to quit working, lie on their applications and stop reporting their income thereby denying our economy much needed life and our government purse much needed tax revenue. This is horrible, horrible legislation written by someone who still thinks we live in a 1990s economy. It needs to be fixed now.
My husband and I are frontline workers in the hospital and have have two young boys at home to care for. We both work full time. Are we required to stay at work, or can one of us apply for CERB
Laid off last Sept 2019. Received E.I. until Jan 2020. Tried looking for a job and then covid 19 happened. Do I qualify for CERB?
Not with the rules as they are currently. My husband is in a similar situation as you. His EI benefits run out end of April. I am hopeful the rules will be changed to include people such as yourself and my husband.
They should have just put everyone on CERB to be fair at least for the 16 week period. The people who held stable jobs for years are falling short and the ones who couldn’t and not even entitled to unemployment benefits are getting 2000$ a month. Makes absolutely no sense. Should be the other way around!
Ya the government should include everyone who has paid into e.i since 2018 and who was looking for work or who was on temporary income support or people in between a rock and hard place so in other words the govt is saying if you were a bum before the pandemic you will remain a bum
Yes u are eligible for CERB
It doesn’t make sense. So if a part-time student over the age of 15 works an afterschool camp type job and the camp shuts down due to COVID, they are eligible for $2000 a month even though they likely only work 12 hours a week make about $7000-$8000 in a calendar year? This doesn’t seem right to me.
It’s a pretty twisted system! A 15 year old can get $2000 a month if they qualify but families are starving that don’t qualify!??? WOW! Awful!!
Everyone should get the $2000. Worry about the red tape later. People need to eat now.
I wouldn’t say twisted that 15 year old was good enough to work before all this crisis so she has just the right as any other person dear so if she did it and qualify be happy for them
No, I have just gone through the application process and you have had to maintain 30 hours per week for a minimum of 4 months last year.
That’s not true.
I know many students who have received the CERB that did not work 30 hours a week at any time.
I’m a vet suffer from ptsd, I’m in my 50s….contributed all my life till recently. Have not worked since 2018 after I QUIT my job. Did not receive any ei…did not even apply, as it was pointless since i qyit my previus job. Can I get any help, it’s not like the job market will help now. Help?
Do you qualify for CPP disability? It definitely isn’t as much as CERB, but better than nothing. I am on CPP disability, and have PTSD and am Bipolar but am also immunocompromised so am having to pay for shoppers to get my groceries etc. I think it is ridiculous that my province offers an extra $300-$352 for those on provincial disability, but the federal government is doing nothing for us.
What province do you live in and how do you get disability from them? Thanks
I am adult student finished my studies in last November I have been working part-time for a company for only 8 hours a week. I am also working as as a self-employee for the full time as i have mortge and bills to pay. My self-employment is greatly effected but because of my little part-time I am not eligible for CERB. It is total unjustice. CERB encouraging people to take coplete off from the work and stay home and enjoy the money while people working in the essential services working less hours jeoperdizing their lives will get the most disadvangee fromt this benefit.
In the 650,000 Canadians who aren’t eligible, how many are in the same position that I find myself? My Employment Insurance has run out, I was unable to find suitable employment, I continue to look for a job with complete documentation as if I was still receiving Employment Insurance benefits. I have an e-mail following an interview from an employer who I had hoped to start with April 1, 2020 but they have frozen hiring due to the pandemic. I was unable to find employment before, what chance to I have now?
I hear you. My spouse is in the same position as you. I have been a stay at home mom. We have no income. Yet a student who lost a part-time job, living with parents, qualifies.
This definitely doesnt cover the self-employed person who has seen their income drop significantly. Making 1000/week before but now have dropped below 300 because of the virus. Would be better off not working at all and putting things on hold. We have been designated an essential service as well. Need a top up to monthly earnings for self-employed. Think the govt should consider paying everyone 2000$ to avoid whats going to become a complete mess!
I have a part time job at our local elementary school
We were told to stay home now..I have been off for 3 weeks now including march break. I make under $5,000 so I just wondered if they will be helping us part time workers out with any benefit at all? I dont expect $2
,000 but maybe half of what I would have been paid? There should b something there for really low income part time workers? My husband and kids are out of work too?
Exactly!!
It is always the working poor who will suffer during times like this. those who still work and keep their jobs have drastically reduced pay. with this new package it would be a mercy to lay off employees and all sorts of false praise is said like
“you are an essential service! we need you.”
think about that for a second…grocery clerks were the butt of jokes for people who couldn’t find meaningful employment. now all of the sudden that disaster has struck they are lumped in with healthcare workers and first responders.
where was this respect before our society was on the brink of collapse? it didnt exist and it is infuriating to see people suddenly praising the same peolle they had little to no respect for before they really need them.
many of these employees are young kids. they do not have the luxury of being able to work from home. many of them will be over worked and not see any hazard pay or bonus to help them through these times as their employers make record profits due to panic buying. and while this disease mostly kills the elderly and compromised. it CAN and HAS killed perfectly healthy young people.
and before anyone tries to tell me “at least they have a job! they are lucky!”
those who can work from home and make 50-100% more are lucky. these workers…these human beings… deserve an apology before you a disenginuous “thank you, your sacrifice is appreciated.” because no one cared about them before this.
they have all my sympathy.
Agree ?! So unfair! Trudeau and his “CERB” is just hurting already hurting people!
Oh yes! This is ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR to SO many Canadians that were disabled, unemployed, students, seniors! They basically provided money to the middle class ONCE AGAIN!! So angry!!
Oh ya! This is a terrible slap on the face to so many Canadians because we don’t all fall into the governments “ideal” bracket! What about seniors? Students?? Homeless?? Already unemployed?? Disabled people who can’t even live on their pathetic little CPP cheque a month??? People already unemployed and struggling?? HELLO??? What about all of us??? No help!! Pathetic!
Thanks for the info. It just so happens, my EI claim from December runs out the same week applications for CERB open, but it sounds like I don’t qualify.
That’s right, since 2019 was a notoriously slow year for the local film industry, I banked the required hours busting my ass with 12-18-hour shifts, but not enough weeks worked to cover me past the first week of April. And here, I felt pulled into a sense of safety when CERB was announced. On top of that, my housing co-op subsidy just did an assessment based on my 2018 income instead of 2019 or current, so my rent effectively went up $300 this month.
Yeah, I sure hope CERB can be expanded to include those left out like this.
I just opened my own business in January. A licensed business. But because I haven’t made $5000 yet I am excluded? Even though I had a job . I have signed contracts I cannot fulfill but now I don’t qualify? How is this fair? How about give everyone the $2000 and worry about shit later!!! People need to eat… Disgusted
The CERB benefit should be for everyone whether you have lost your job, or had a reduction in your hours. I’m self employed and went from making a decent income to making enough to cover groceries and maybe a one of the monthly bills. But because I make this little income I don’t qualify for it, but you can bet your ass that once everything is back to whatever normal will be, we will all be expected to help repay all of this! Let’s make this for everyone so that we can try and keep our heads above water and not lose everything we have worked so hard for!!
I am a self employed cleaner. I clean residential homes. I haven’t worked Since March 10th, due to the COVID – 19 pandemic. I applied for EI right away. They sent my # I needed to access my acct. on the Govt. of Canada site, because I forgot my password, and couldn’t access it. I waited all that time to access my acct., only to be told I don’t qualify for EI, as I didn’t have enough working hrs.
I also applied for the provincial emergency fund, but never got that either. Other people I know did get that. Why didn’t I receive that one-time payment of $1400? Why am I sitting at home, with no income..obviously I can’t do my job from home..and I have no money..so I have to go out working again? Expose myself, my family & others, including senior clients of mine, or clients with children, etc?
My son is supposed to go back to work at a liquor store tomorrow, and I’m scared to death for him, and if he brings the virus home. He never got EI either, nor anything else, so WE, the POOREST HAVE TO SUFFER!?!?!?!?!? WTF is WRONG with the GOV’T?!?!?!? WE CAN’T LIVE ON NOTHING, especially when we were already living paycheque to paycheque!!!! We did NOT have anything saved up for this, like some people do (who could afford to save $ up)…So, now we are almost forced to go back to work, honestly!!!! Or get evicted, have no means to live on…etc. VERY UNHAPPY!!!!!!!
I am a newcomer here in Toronto and been here with my family since Jan 2020. I started to work after a month since we were here and now our stores are closed. All of our staff applied for EI but since I have not worked enough hours I will not be eligible for CERB but I don’t know what could I have done. I was here for less than 3 months and have worked for about half of that period but now I will be basically on my own. If it keeps on like this for long, I and maybe my wife have to get out and find some work to make ends meet and basically risk our health.
I wished the CERB framework considered these cases like ours who have work experience but who were not here enough to make the eligibility criteria yet.
Disabled adults totally forgotten. There’s multiple, ongoing supplemental covid-19 financial assistance for people with kids, ongoing increased pensions for seniors, but beyond a one-time GST increase payment, NOTHING is available for disabled Canadians, struggling with sky-rocketing rents, sky-rocketing food costs, sky-rocketing delivery costs.
I’m 61 years old and have been self employed all my life. I just barely squeak by so I was forced to take my CPP a few months ago which amounts to 700 bucks. I’ve had to support my household on below poverty wages and now, because of 700$ in CPP and with my self employed earnings 100% shut down, the CPP means I don’t qualify for anything. It’s quite maddening that a 15 year old young person doing a support position and living at home with his or her parents qualifies for 2000$ and I qualify for nothing. I have a family member who’s 3 teenage kids and the mother who works part time all qualify(that’s 8000/month) and the husband makes over 100K per year and is still working, and I qualify for nothing. Can anyone shed light on the insanity. I’ll likely loose everything.
I came to Canada in early January 2020 as a Work Permit holder, found a part time job a week after I arrived. I was working part time for 2 weeks, then I found another part time job, but, sadly, as the season was kinda slow in January-February, I was never managed to get together full time hours. Fortunately, it was enough to pay my rent and expenses. As the jobs were in hospitality, I made a huge amount of my earnings in tips, and made hardly 4100 CAD as the normal income, 500 CAD as tips. So I am not eligible for CERB or EI, not eligible for anything in my home country as well since I left the social system there prior arriving to Canada and cant even return back home, as the flights are reduced and very expensive. Hopefully there will be some corrections on this as there are many foreign and seasonal workers in hospitality in places like Banff etc.
Just send the cheques to everyone with SIN number and call it a day!!
I have been working part-time for years. I was laid off and was denied EI because I didn’t have enough hours. Does this mean I am not eligible for CERB?
I applied for cpp disability 600 a month and EI sick benefits 200 a week – 800 a month
My EI sick benefit ran out March 14 — I have no job to go back to now part time because of the virus— I do not qualify for EI regular benefits even though I worked all year last year — and am too afraid to apply for CERB because I get 600 a month from Cpp disability
This does seems unfair as I have bills and a stomach too!
This is a very good point. Many who are considered “essentials” are working to save the country’s economy and or provide the necessities to people of this country…..yet these people work so hard risking their lives to serve the country and is not being recognized or compensated. While people who don’t work get to chill out at home collect money from cerb …get to spend time freely with their immediate family, sleep in etc…and there is no proof for sure that these people are in real need ? Yet this money that is being given out….guess also who need to pay back for it? Ppl who worked ….how ironic?? It’s only fair to distribute funds equally. The cerb funds are played out in ways that doesn’t fill in all the gaps. Logics who doesn’t need money? Everyone does…regardless if working or not…. everyone is impacted one way or another. Only makes sense to give it to everyone.
I went on ei in December due to company no longer needed my position in their company. My ei runs out today. Because of covid-19 , schools being closed and no one hiring other than grocery stores. I have been unable to find a job. I have 3 kids at home.
Do I qualify for CERB?
Hi. My old EI claim that I claimed 5 months ago for apprentice training prevents me from CERB. I have been laid off since Mar. 23. I applied for EI, I will apparently receive $323 weekly based on my old claim that I used during apprentice training. Additionally EI payment doesn’t boost $500 weekly unlike current EI claim and CERB. Service Canada says people who have claimed in past 52 weeks must complete old claim although old claim was created before this crisis happened.Again, my old claim was submitted due application training in 2019. But I lost my job due to COVID 19. Service Canada says I can’t apply for CERB because Service Canada has my record which proof I am qualify for EI that only pays me $323 weekly. Why Service Canada doesn’t help people?
I’m a seasonal worker. Laid off in November. Cant for back to work and I worked all last year every day. I receive 800 less than people that worked a few weeks and sat on welfare the rest of the year. Something is wrong with this.
My wife is on parental leave. She is getting 91 dollars a week and they won’t let her apply for the CERB. It’s completely unfair. All of her co-workers are getting the CERB. But just because she went off a few weeks before the CERB was available, she can’t apply and is now stuck with a pitiful 92 dollars per week. This doesn’t even cover the formula, if you can find it.
I applied for ei March 19th and my application is still under review. No idea if or when it will be approved and yet people who just applied for cerb are already receiving payments. It says all ei applications after March 15th will automatically turn to cerb, but when? My work shut down, there is no one to contact, all the numbers aren’t taking calls… How will I pay bills at the end of April if the process is so jammed up?
I am in the same boat with my application “under review”. I have an access code am not even able to submit reports yet. Do you happen to know what the status will say when reports are able to be submitted?
I’m in the same boat my claim is still under review. I’ve tried multiple days to get through to someone on the phone with no luck. I’m able to do reports tho but still haven’t received payment or a status update. I applied March 26.
As I am new to canada shifted here in last week of February, haven’t started working what should I do Is there any funding for newcomers?
self-employed, I was off march 28 to april 11, that’s my 14 consecutive days of no work, but got paid for a job I did at the beginning of march for 1600.00$ on march 30 so does that affect anything? I was still off for 14 days in a row
Hi, my employer sent in my ROE March 16. After waiting till April 10 for a decision to be made Services Canada claims that they have not received the ROE from my employer. I have spent so many hours on the phone trying to reach them only to be cut off after waiting for hours and hours. I got my ROE from my employer so I went to the Services Canada office which stated on the internet they were open only to find them closed. I applied March 8 and it is April 16, how is a person supposed to take care of himself and family when Services canada employees convienently quit working at the offices. Essential workers such as Service Canada employees MUST be commanded to go back to work as an income is important so I can buy food. I have been paying into this BS for five years and now when I make a claim they somehow lost my ROE, won’t answer their phones, ad quit their jobs. This is some government we have, the question is what do they govern – themselves.
My EI application was submitted March 26th. It is recieved and the claim status is Under Review. However I can’t submit reports yet. Does anyone know if the status will change once I’m able to submit reports? I can’t get a hold of anyone at service Canada.
I am a server and earned about 4200$ taxable income in the past 12 months from paycheques- I would have earned much more than that if tips are included so do you think I’m eligible for CERB?? Does the minimum 5000$ include cash tips earned?
Yes, tips do count towards your income for this. However be warned that if you have already filed your 2019 taxes and didn’t declare those tips as income, you might have a problem. If you did file your 2019 taxes and recorded those tips as income, you are defiantly qualify. If you haven’t filed your 2019 taxes yet, make sure you report those tips as income on line 10400 of your tax return.
i started my own gel nail business last yr out of my home. i spent over 5000.00 getting everything i needed to start up. as a new business i didnt make 5000.00. adding insult to injury, i have a 27 yr old daughter who has cerebral palsy who isnt allowed to go to any of her day programs so following our Governments rules im not working and im a fulltime care giver to her….im not getting a single dime…WTF
Im a school bus driver, and i also fall in the crack, I applied Mar 16, but because i had a file fr last summer with EI they just restarted it, each week i get 248$, monthly 912$, way below the cerb payment. a little help would be nice!!!
ive called ei like 6 times for the same reason ,,ur suspose to qualify if u lost ur job after mar 15 and applied for ei ,,they put me under an old claim from last year ,,now I cant get cerb unless they cancel my old claim ,,,730 a month,, should just put anyone filing for ei on cerb shouldn’t matter if its an old or new claim if u lost ur job because of this ?
This is the worst I can’t get CERB and EI I can’t finish my report bc they want me to call and so how does one get money if I’m this situation ? What a fucking joke!!
I am currently on EI. I am a seasonal worker my season starts in May in a hunting fishing camp I work the summer and collect E.I through my off season. Looks like I will not be able to acquire my hours for another claim. I have a family and travel every year for work from Newfoundland to Ontario. What happens after my claim stops? OK some people will say you can collect cerb then OK but 16 weeks of cerb will not be long enough to get to my next season meaning 2021?
I dont understand people who only made 200-300 a week how the hell are they able to get 2000 a month with this CERB. Monies that they never made from the beginning as a part time it’s really unfair to those who deserve it
if I took that dose What would happen if I did CRBE
My girlfriend isn’t eligible because she had the worst timing in changing jobs. She managed to get a new job with better hours, location and pay. So on March 1st, she gave her old employer two weeks notice and was scheduled to start her new job with her new employer on March 27th, we were planning a short trip for week before she started her new job so she gave her notice a week before she had to, of course in the end we couldn’t go and she would have had to give notice at her old employer two days before the deadline anyways. So she didn’t get to start her new job, but isn’t eligible for any benefits because she quit her old job. The worst part is she loves to work and it’s looking like a huge number of employers in our area won’t ever open up again after this (including the place she was supposed to start), so it will be really hard for her to find a new job once this is over.
Let’s start a petition as I know so many people with same concern.
I am not eligible for CERB because I am not eligible for EI ( as I quitted my job before Covid 19) while it is for Emergancy Response and I ‘m affected due to the fact that I can not find the job due to pandemic.
I worked for 6 years in a company and then in Nov 2019 I started my new job in another company which I quitted it in 2 monthes due to terribly unsafe job! And now it is 3 monthes that am struggling to find a job due to COVID19 issue, I am not getting any interview and am jobless.
All I want to say is that however I worked hard and paid tax for 6 years, I am not qualified for the CERB and am not recieving nothing in this bad financial situation!
My wife was working since December 2019. Her location was closed in mid of March and hence she was offered lay-off till June this year.
She can’t apply for EI as Ontario needs 700 hours min which she hasn’t yet accumulated. She meets all conditions for CERB except the income of $5000. Her income comes to total of $4882, just missing $118!!!
With current conditions she won’t be entitled to any benefits even after having her work impacted by this pandemic. Why this $5000 min requirement for workers!!! Students will get benefits which my wife can’t. Just for missing $118 which is totally unfair.
59 yrs old making less that $500 in EI yet a fifteen year old making 2000 a month in CERB what’s the story here , can’t pay all my bills !