Canada: Employment Insurance

By Kay McMahon, 9 March 2010

Employment Insurance (or EI) is a mandatory deduction from your wages, each pay period. This is matched by your employer, every pay period, and is sent to the federal Government.

This fund is a plan that pays you if you lose your job through no fault of your own (you won’t get paid EI if you voluntarily leave a job).

It will pay you for up to 36 weeks and at a rate that is about 66% of your previous gross pay.