Quitting & Seeking EI - Importance of Advance Legal Consultation
Neufeld Legal P.C. can be reached by telephone at 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864 or email Chris@NeufeldLegal.com
When you quit your job in Canada and wish to attain EI - Employment Insurance Benefits, you will be expected to prepare and file Form INS 5109 – Quit (Voluntary Separation from Employment), with Employment and Social Development Canada. Form INS 5109 has six central sections: (i) general questions, (ii) prospective new employment, (iii) health reasons, (iv) illness in family, (v) relocation, and (vi) early retirement. Our focus is on quitting one's job, without a new job having been secured, no medical or relocation issue necessitating an end to one’s employment, or early retirement circumstances.
The general questions section of Form INS 5109, seeks relevant employer contact information and employment end date, and proceeds to ask a mere 5 questions, providing limited space to answer those questions. As will become clear, consideration of these questions in advance of quitting one’s job can be pivotal to receiving regular employment insurance benefits, with advance legal consultation being particularly beneficial, given what should be asked of one’s employer in advance of quitting one’s job, since there are highly technical aspects that can come into play with both one’s employer and the government authorities managing employment insurance benefits.
The first general question: “What was your reason for quitting your employment? If more than one reason is applicable, please list your reasons in order of priority.” Now when it comes to reasons for quitting your employment, to qualify for EI – employment insurance benefits, you must have JUST CAUSE for quitting your employment, with there being 14 legislatively prescribed areas justifying ‘for cause’ job departures, set out in subsection 29 (c) of the Employment Insurance Act, being:
(i) sexual or other harassment,
(ii) obligation to accompany a spouse, common-law partner or dependent child to another residence,
(iii) discrimination on a prohibited ground of discrimination within the meaning of the Canadian Human Rights Act,
(iv) working conditions that constitute a danger to health or safety,
(v) obligation to care for a child or a member of the immediate family,
(vi) reasonable assurance of another employment in the immediate future,
(vii) significant modification of terms and conditions respecting wages or salary,
(viii) excessive overtime work or refusal to pay for overtime work,
(ix) significant changes in work duties,
(x) antagonism with a supervisor if the claimant is not primarily responsible for the antagonism,
(xi) practices of an employer that are contrary to law,
(xii) discrimination with regard to employment because of membership in an association, organization or union of workers,
(xiii) undue pressure by an employer on the claimant to leave their employment, and
(xiv) any other reasonable circumstances that are prescribed.
Now, some of these ‘just cause’ circumstances are relatively straightforward and unambiguous, such as sexual harassment and racial discrimination, while others are more detail oriented and subject to ‘reasonable alternatives’ considerations, such as changes in work duties and excess overtime work. However, there are others that are actually more prevalent, yet require a lawyer such as ourselves to properly identify and explain, given their highly technical and legal nature.
One than proceeds to the actions that were taken by the employee to address these reasons, where it was reasonable in the circumstances to engage with the employer and seek to correct the situation. We see this in the second and third questions: “Did you take action to rectify the situation/problem that prompted you to quit your employment? If yes, please specify. If no, please give your reason(s) in detail.”; and “Did you discuss the situation/problem with your employer prior to quitting your employment? If yes, what was the result of this discussion? If no, why did you quit prior to discussing your situation/problem? Please explain your reasons in detail.” Here, you need to be careful in your response to the government and properly craft your response, such that engaging a knowledgeable lawyer and having an appropriate plan of action is essential, given that many employees could have asked their former employer some very effective questions that would have justified quitting their job and being entitled to both employment insurance benefits and additional payments from their former employer. Now, if you’ve quit your job in advance of consulting a lawyer, this shouldn’t stop you from contacting a knowledgeable lawyer, since the reasons are all too often still there, it simply means that the lawyer-directed paper trail has not been created.
The section has two further questions about pursuing further employment, the first in relation to job searches prior to quitting and the second in relation to job search efforts after one quits their job. Given that it is an obligation to seek replacement employment of a comparable level to be entitled to regular employment insurance benefits, these questions need to be answered in a manner consistent with the government’s expectation that “As an Employment Insurance (EI) claimant, you have always been responsible for conducting reasonable job searches, documenting your job search activities and accepting any offer of suitable employment while receiving EI regular benefits.”
Although Form INS 5109 may appear relatively straightforward, the implications of not taking appropriate advance action and completing it with sufficient legal consideration, can have enormous financial consequences for an employee quitting their employment. As such, engaging with a knowledgeable lawyer can be highly advantageous where one’s employment circumstances justify quitting for cause, with the conditions for just cause quitting being far more prevalent than most Canadian employees would honestly imagine. Nevertheless, the importance of early action plays a critical role in seeking regular employment insurance benefits, and other legal avenues may well be available for those employees who have quit their job, yet are denied employment insurance.
The legal parameters for employment insurance eligibility tends to be far greater than most people recognize, with the government actually dissuading many employees who are out of work from seeking EI, especially those who have quit their job or whose former employer claims to have fired them for cause, such that it is particularly important for those employees to contact a knowledgeable lawyer as soon as possible (and as we discuss elsewhere, for employees considering quitting their job, the optimal time to speak with a lawyer is in advance of quitting one's job). Furthermore, there may well be other payments due to yourself that you haven't considered when you lose / depart your job, such that legal advice is strongly recommended. For a free consultation regarding your post-employment situation, contact our law firm in strict confidence, by telephone at 403-400-4092 or 905-616-8864, or via email at Chris@NeufeldLegal.com.
Breaking-down EI - Employment Insurance:
What is Employment Insurance - EI
Who is Eligible for EI - Employment Insurance
What is Suitable Employent for purposes of EI - Employment Insurance
What is a Reasonable Job Search for purposes of EI - Employment Insurance
Quitting & Seeking EI - Importance of Advance Legal Consultation
Quitting for Cause and EI - Employment Insurance
| Don't leave behind earned money that
you are legally entitled to, just because you are looking
for a new job. To learn more, contact our law firm at Chris@NeufeldLegal.com or 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864. |
IMPORTANT NOTE: This website is designed for general informational purposes. The site is not designed to answer specific questions about your individual situation or entitlement. Do not rely upon the information provided on this website as legal advice in respect of your individual situation nor use it as substitute for individual legal advice. If you want specific legal advice, you need to engage a lawyer under established legal engagement procedures that have been specifically agreed to by that lawyer.