Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles Chapter 24 - Section 8

24.8.0 Six types of special benefits

Once a self-employed person has registered for the Employment Insurance (EI) benefits for the self-employed program and waited the requisite 12 months from their registration date, six types of special benefits are available to them, should that person meet the qualifying and entitlement conditions. These are: sickness, maternity, parental, compassionate care, family caregiver benefits for children and family caregiver benefits for adults.

Self-employed residents of Québec are only eligible for EI sickness, compassionate care and family caregiver benefits, given that maternity and parental benefits are offered to them through the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP).

The entitlement conditions for special benefits for the self-employed mirror those that apply to special benefits available to applicants applying as insured employees or as self-employed fishers. However, there are some distinct differences which are presented in each section of this chapter as they relate directly to self-employment claims:

• sickness (section 24.9.0 of the Digest)
• maternity (section 24.10.0 of the Digest)
• parental (section 24.11.0 of the Digest)
• family caregiver benefits (section 24.12.0 of the Digest)
• compassionate care (section 24.13.0 of the Digest)

An eligible claimant may be paid special benefits at any time in the benefit period, while respecting the specific time frame within which maternity, parental and compassionate care benefits are payable. To ensure consistency and stability in the payment of special benefits the maximum number of weeks for which special benefits may be paid is set by legislation (EIA 152.14(8)). These parameters are explained below.

24.8.1 Limits to the number of weeks of special benefits payable

Each type of special benefit has an individual maximum number of weeks payable in one benefit period (EIA 152.14(1)). Individual maximums are:

• maternity benefits, 15 weeks
• standard parental benefits, 35 weeks
• extended parental benefits, 61 weeks
• sickness benefits, 26 weeks
• family caregiver benefits for children, 35 weeks
• family caregiver benefits for adults, 15 weeks
• compassionate care benefits, 26 weeks

Special benefits may be paid in any combination during a benefit period, provided the claimant proves entitlement for each type of benefit claimed.

A maximum of 102 weeks of different types of special benefits may be paid if the initial benefit period is extended by a maximum of 104 weeks. This can only happen if, during the initial 52 weeks benefit period (EIA 152.11(14)):

• more than one type of special benefits was paid; and at least one of these special benefits was paid for fewer than the applicable maximum number of weeks payable for these special benefits; and
• the maximum total number of weeks payable for the types of special benefits requested is greater than 50

If a specific type of special benefits was not paid during the initial benefit period, it cannot be paid during the extended benefit period.

For example, where maternity, parental and compassionate care benefits were paid during the initial 52-week benefit period, the claimant would be entitled to receive additional weeks of maternity, parental and compassionate care during the extension (provided the specific time frame within which these benefits are payable has not passed). In this example, since illness benefits were not paid during the initial benefit period, they could not be paid during the extended period.

Regarding the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), EI legislation introduced a principle of equivalence which applies to EI special benefits for the self-employed. Each week of provincial benefits paid to a self-employed person in a benefit period is considered as a week for which benefits are paid under the EI program if the claimant would have been entitled to the corresponding benefits under the EI program (EIR 76.36). Accordingly, each of these weeks is considered in calculating the overall maximum number of weeks of EI maternity or parental benefits payable during a benefit period and in calculating the maximum number of weeks of EI benefits payable with regard to a birth or an adoption (Please see the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan on the Government of Canada website).

[November 2023]