The 2023 edition continues to include the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act, Canada Recovery Benefits Act, and Canada Recovery Benefits Regulations. It includes commentary to address ongoing changes to benefit programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Features:

• The full text of the Employment Insurance Act, as amended. All legislation contained in the text is current to Canada Gazette 156:20 (September 28, 2022).
• Section-by-section annotations, including updated case-law, commentary, and related provisions
• All relevant legislation and regulations enacted to establish new benefits in response to COVID-19, as amended as the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved: the Canada Emergency Response Act and the Canada Recovery Benefits Act (and Canada Recovery Benefits Regulations)
• Legislation related to the Social Security Tribunal, with annotations
• The Tax Court of Canadas Rules of Procedure Respecting the Employment Insurance Act

Updated Employment Insurance Act and Annotations

The 2023 edition of the text includes the updated text of the Employment Insurance Act. The annotations to the Act have been reviewed, with new case law, and updated commentary contained in over 40 revisions and over 60 new Tribunal decisions, including in relation to:

• The significance under s. 12(2) of the Act of the regional rate of unemployment at the time of stopping work as opposed to when a claimants benefit period commences, where the claimant received severance pay allocated to the first few weeks of a claim
• The nonrelevance under s. 18 of the Act of external factors such as the number of jobs available in the job market: [o]therwise, everyone would be considered available for work during a pandemic
• The meaning of availability in circumstances including: a claimant on a study permits that limited outside employment to 20 hours weekly; a claimant waiting for her previous employer to recall her to part-time work while she attended school; and a claimant had not applied for a renewal of her work permit; a claimant was not physically able to work
• The general presumption under s. 153.161 of the Act that a full-time student is not available for work