[splitimage]

In order to continue collecting my employment insurance, I have to file a report on-line every two weeks, stating my availability and readiness to work. One of the questions they ask is if you are out of the country for any time during the two week reporting period. Well a couple of weeks ago I went on a mini-vacation to AZ to see my brother who I haven't seen in over a year. I have a bit of a fear about lying to the gov't, just in case they do things like cross reference EI records and customs records (low probability I know) so i was honest and reported that I was out of the country. So when I'd finished filing my report it told me I had to call the main EI reporting telephone line. This is an excercise is torture as it always takes forever to get a live person. This time I was on hold for 30 min. I had to explain how long I was out of the country for, and what it wsa for. End result, they'll be deducting the three business days that I was out of the country from my next EI payment. This strikes me as extremely petty, since I'm only collecting EI from a system that I've paid into for over 20 years. GRRR

--splitimage

[Beholden]

(((SE)))) I agree with you.

[DocClyde]

I agree, thats a little petty...especially when there are people who abuse the system and still get benefits and the like...

[Perna]

I would feel good that I had done my part, told the truth, and was still on track to becoming the woman I want to be. Three days sound petty both days; it's hardly worth it for them and it shouldn't be all that much out of the whole for you? But maybe your 3 days will subsidize a person or two in worse straits 3 days so taxes, etc. don't have to be raised? I'd consider my taking a vacation out of the country a "gift" to those who can't afford it, are worse off than I am and don't have as much going for them as I do for me.

[splitimage]

Perna,

I can see where you're coming from, and if I honestly thought the three days "saved" by not paying me would help someone else, I'd feel less bad about it. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. EI is federally administered and funded through a payroll tax that the employer and employees both contribute to. It used to be that EI had a surplus and that 80% of people who lost their job qualified for some period of benefits. Then the Gov't moved EI into general revenue, and bye-bye surplus, so they massively tighted the eligibility requirements to collect. Currently less than 50% of workers who lose their job are eligible to collect. So I guess I should just be greatful that I'm getting benefits at all, aside from the fact that I've paid into it for over 20 years, and this is the first time I've ever needed to collect it. But the reality is that the EI payouts are really small so yes losing three days is a big hit to my budget, those three days is the difference between EI covering my rent and not.

So how come I'm taking trips to AZ? I didn't pay for it. My brother who is in a very high paying job, completely paid for my trip, airfare, hotel, food, everything. He did this so we could see each other as I hadn't seen him in over a year and he knew I hadn't been on a vacation in over 5 years.

As for people who are worse off than me, EI funds would never reach them. Disability payments are provincially funded through provincial taxes, which I pay into.

General welfare payments, which is kind of last resort money, when you've exhausted all other options, that's not enough to live on - the max a single person can collect is $485 / month which will not cover rent and food, is funded through municiple taxes that I also pay. Subsidized housing is also funded through municiple taxes, which is crazy.

About a decade ago we went through a period of governement downloading. The federal government cut transfer payments to the provinces, so the provinces, in order to avoid raising provincial income tax rates, downloaded a bunch of social services onto the municipalities, which I think is totally unfair, as each municipality has a differing tax base. And they can only raise funds by raising property taxes or slapping user fees on services that used to be free.

The social safety net is admittedly marginally better in Canada than in the US, but it's still a massive mess and needs a serious overhaul, but it's not a priority for any level of government. All the governments care about is balancing budgets and cutting taxes.

--splitimage