Changes To The Work-Sharing Program During COVID-19

Work-Sharing (WS) is a program that helps employers and employees avoid layoffs when there is a temporary decrease in business activity beyond the control of the employer. The program provides Employment Insurance (EI) benefits to eligible employees who agree to reduce their normal working hours and share the available work while their employer recovers. Work-Sharing is an agreement between employers, employees and the Government of Canada.

The Program allows employers to:

• retain qualified and experienced workers, and
• avoid recruiting and training new employees

The Program allows employees to:

• keep their jobs, and
• maintain their work skills

Temporary Special Measures To Support Employers And Workers Affected By COVID-19

Effective March 15, 2020 to March 14, 2021, and not limited to one specific sector or industry, the Government of Canada is introducing temporary special measures:

• Extension of the maximum possible duration of an agreement from 38 weeks to 76 weeks
• Mandatory cooling off period has been waived for employers who have already used the Work-Sharing program so that eligible employers may immediately enter into a new agreement
• Reduce the previous requirements for a Recovery Plan to a single line of text in the application form
• Reduce the requirement and expand eligibility to employers affected by accepting business who have been in business for only 1 year rather than 2, and eliminate the burden of having to provide sales/production figures at the same time, and
• Expand eligibility for staff who are essential to recovery, Government Business Enterprises (GBEs) and non-for-profit organization employers.

Employers

Eligible employers

To be eligible for a WS agreement, your business must:

• be a year-round business in Canada for at least 1 year
• be a private business or a publicly held company, or
• have at least 2 employees in the WS unit

Eligibility was also extended to:

• Government Business Enterprises (GBEs), also referred to as public corporations, and
• not-for-profit employers experiencing a shortage of work due to a reduction of business activity and/or a reduction in revenue levels due to COVID-19

Ineligible employers

Your business is not eligible for WS if it is experiencing a reduction in business activity due to:

• a labour dispute
• a seasonal shortage of work, or
• the decrease in business activity is due to a recent increase in the size of the workforce

And if you are a:

• shareholder who is responsible for the direction of the company and who holds 40% and more of the voting shares
• employer who operates solely for the purpose of carrying out the administration of a government program/activity that is purely government in nature (such as municipalities, Government Agencies, etc.), or
• self-employed

Employees

Eligible employees

To be eligible for WS, your employees must:

• be year-round, permanent, full-time or part-time employees needed to carry out the day-to-day functions of the business (your “core staff”)
• be eligible to receive EI benefits, and
• agree to reduce their normal working hours by the same percentage and to share the available work

Eligibility was also extended to:

• employees considered essential to the recovery and viability of the business can now be eligible to participate in Work-Sharing (such as technical employees engaged in product development, outside sales agents, marketing agents, etc.)

Ineligible employees

Employees that are not eligible for WS include:

• seasonal employees and students hired for the summer or a co-op term
• employees hired on a casual or on-call basis, or through a temporary help agency
• employees responsible for the direction of the company and who hold more than 40% of the voting shares in the business, or
• self-employed

How to apply

Employers are now requested to submit their applications 10 business days prior to the requested start date. The streamlined measures undertaken by Service Canada will aim to reduce the processing time to 10 business days.

Prior to COVID-19, employers were requested to send their Work-Sharing application (and supporting documentation) 30 days prior to their requested start date.

Apply here