Ottawa is waiving the one-week waiting period for new Employment Insurance claims. This will apply to all claims between January 31st and September 25th of this year.
This temporary change includes regular, fishing industry, and special benefit claims. The feds say this will allow people who are applying for benefits to be paid right away for their first week.
Anyone who opens a new EI claim after the 31st but goes back to work before their entitlement ends will still get the benefit of an extra week of income. There will be no change to the amount of weeks someone can collect EI.
