You may be entitled to receive EI regular benefits if you:
have paid premiums into the EI Account;
lost your employment through no fault of your own;
have been without work and without pay for at least seven consecutive days;
have worked for the required number of insurable hours in the last 52 weeks or since the start of your last EI claim, whichever is shorter;
are ready, willing, and capable of working each day; and
are actively looking for work (you must keep a written record of employers you contact, including when you contacted them).
You may not be entitled to receive EI regular benefits if you:
voluntarily left your employment without just cause;
were dismissed for misconduct; or
are unemployed because you are directly participating in a labour dispute (strike, lockout, or other type of dispute).
Section 2 – Eligibility criteria
To be entitled to receive EI regular benefits, I need to have lost my employment through no fault of my own. What does this mean?
If we consider that you are responsible for the loss of your employment, you may not be entitled to receive EI benefits. Here are a few examples of situations in which you may be considered to be responsible for the loss of your employment:
you left your employment voluntarily and without just cause (you did not consider all the reasonable alternatives available to you to keep your job);
you were dismissed for misconduct (your employer considered that you voluntarily or deliberately committed an inappropriate action, a violation, or professional misconduct); or
you are unemployed as a result of a labour dispute in which you participated, whether it is a strike, a lockout, or other type of dispute.
However, we may consider that you are not responsible for the loss of your employment if:
your employer ended your employment, but it was not as a result of misconduct on your part; or
you left your employment for reasons that could be considered just cause for leaving the employment (for example, harassment, discrimination, or dangerous working conditions).
In these cases, you may be entitled to receive regular benefits if you meet the eligibility criteria.