No Employment Insurance For Those Who Don't Get The Jab
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Summary
Should employees who refuse to get vaccinated be eligible for Employment Insurance (EI) if their employer terminates their job because they refuse to vaccinate their employees? In this episode, I speak with the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Katie Donoughue, who gives her thoughts on the matter.
Transcript
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Employers in a wide range of sectors are starting to lay off employees for refusing to get
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vaccinated. Will individuals who lose a job for refusing to get vaccinated qualify for employment
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insurance? Well, that's a very important question and we're looking into it. My current thinking on
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it is that is a that's a choice. And, you know, of course, not counting medical exemptions or
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valid reasons for term for not having the vaccination. But if you choose to leave your
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job for that reason, my current thinking and the current advice I'm getting is you won't qualify
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for EI. So so right now, it's not necessarily the employer is choosing. They're choosing not to get
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vaccinated. And we're not talking about medical reasons. That is not what I'm asking about. It's
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someone who says, I don't want to get vaccinated, even if I'm going to lose my job, that the employer
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terminates that person's positions. From your perspective right now, you're looking at making
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sure, no, that individual does not qualify for EI. Right. That's exactly what I'm saying. So I just
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wanted to make sure I understood your question. Absolutely. So it's a condition of employment that
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hasn't been met. And the employer choosing to terminate someone for that reason would make
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that person ineligible for EI. And I know you said that you're looking at it right now. Is there any
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sort of timeline as to when that will be sort of specifically hammered out and be policy?
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Partially because we're still technically in the caretaker convention and there hasn't been a new
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cabinet appointed, Katie. We don't want to make public policy firm decisions that will bind the
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next, you know, cabinet. But I can tell you that's the advice I'm getting. And that will be the advice
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I move forward with. But, you know, we'll have to wait and see what the prime minister does next
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Tuesday with his cabinet. And so once cabinet is picked, this is something that you will have to
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deal with. Absolutely. That will be dealt with then.