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Archived BAC Articles for Canadian Members

Employment Insurance's "Compassionate Care" Could Benefit You and Your Family
May - June 2003

The 2003 Federal Budget was well publicized, but one item that seemed to slip below the reporters' radar could significantly benefit Canadian BAC members.

As part of the budget's $5.5 billion in health reform initiatives, the Government of Canada announced a new type of Employment Insurance (EI) benefit called the "compassionate care benefit." This benefit is scheduled to come into effect on January 4, 2004, and will be available to all workers entitled to EI benefits.

Under the benefit, all workers who have accumulated 600 hours of insurable earnings during the qualifying period may be eligible to receive up to a maximum of six weeks to provide care or support to a member of his/her family who is gravely ill and at a significant risk of death within 26 weeks. Family members include: a child or the child of a spouse or common-law partner; wife/husband or common-law partner; father/mother; father's wife/mother's husband, if your father/mother has remarried; and the common-
law partner of your father/mother if there has been no remarriage.

With this new provision, workers who previously could not afford time off from work will now be able to care for loved ones in their time of greatest need.