TEACHERS are entitled to EI benefits?

[mikedavid00]

On another forum:

Hi all, I have applied for EI for the summer because I am a teacher, and therefore not working..

A response:

I had to apply for EI recently, so maybe I can help. It is really confusing! My DH is a teacher also (occasional on the Peel & Dufferin-Peel boards) so he goes on EI every summer too.

Another:

I went on EI the first year when I was an LTO teacher. You don't get EI money for the first two weeks after your last day of work (not when you get paid). Once those two weeks are finished you will get paid every two weeks.

WTF??????????

I'M *LIVID* RIGHT NOW!

[Riverwind]

I had to apply for EI recently, so maybe I can help. It is really confusing! My DH is a teacher also (occasional on the Peel & Dufferin-Peel boards) so he goes on EI every summer too.

Some teachers do not have full time positions and are only paid when they actually work. These teachers cannot work during the summer months and do not get paid. Why shouldn't they get EI?

You also have to recognize that EI clawbacks are very punitive and any teacher who earned full time wages for 10 months/year would end up paying most of their EI checks back to the government the following april. However, I would be very surpised if teachers with full time positions were eligible for EI.

[geoffrey]

Seasonal positions should not pay EI. Fishing should not pay EI (farming doesn't, chair lift operators don't get EI, summer park workers don't get EI when they go back to school). Teaching is seasonal. They can take another job, they don't have to teach. I know some that landscape. Whatever pays the bills.

Their salary is for a year's work though IMO. So they should be ineligible come summer. If it's not for a year's work, then they are significantly overpaid.

[Riverwind]

Seasonal positions should not pay EI. Fishing should not pay EI

I agree 100%. EI for seasonal work is gross subdidy to business.

When it comes to part time teachers I suspect part of the problem is government regulation. If the government forces people to pay EI premiums then they have a right to expect benefits if they are unable to work.

[Mad_Michael]

No different than the staff for the Public Works department of the City of Toronto (and thus, probably just like the Public Works department in every city across this country). I know a fellow who drives a snowplow in the winter. He's laid off every spring, collects UI for the summer and is automatically rehired in the fall. Another fellow I know also works for the City of Toronto Public Works department. He works during the spring, summer and fall as a 'heavy equipment operator' - he gets laid off in the fall and goes on UI for the winter and then is automatically rehired in the spring again. It is union rules that the two jobs cannot be made into one, even though over the course of the year, this amounts to only one 'man-year' of labour over the course of a year - for exactly the same job. The practice doesn't cost the city anything - UI and federal taxpayers foot the bill.

But of course, public sector sucking at the UI trough is bad enough, but the private sector sucks way more UI subsidies than the public sector. CAW workers routinely collect UI during routine maintenance operations. This is a direct subsidy going to GM & Ford. We've UI subsidies going to so many private industries and private enterprises I doubt if anyone has ever been able to count them all.

You can mostly thank the unions for all this. The've never seen a bed that can't be feathered.

My favourite union game though has to be nepotism - the way new hires must go out to friends and families of present workers BEFORE it can be advertised.

[Leafless]

Some teachers do not have full time positions and are only paid when they actually work. These teachers cannot work during the summer months and do not get paid. Why shouldn't they get EI?

This only applies to substitute and casual teachers.

But there are a few exceptions:

http://www1.servicecanada.gc.ca/en/ei/info...n/teacher.shtml

[Guest coot]

Their salary is for a year's work though IMO. So they should be ineligible come summer. If it's not for a year's work, then they are significantly overpaid.

But you have to pay back your EI if you make more than $40000, so it's impossible to be grossly overpaid and collect EI at the same time.

[Canuck E Stan]

But you have to pay back your EI if you make more than $40000, so it's impossible to be grossly overpaid and collect EI at the same time.

The basic benefit rate is 55% of your average insured earnings up to a yearly maximum insurable amount of $40,000. This means you can receive a maximum payment of $423 per week. Your EI payment is a taxable income, meaning federal and provincial or territorial, if it applies, taxes will be deducted.

Service Canada

[geoffrey]

When it comes to part time teachers I suspect part of the problem is government regulation. If the government forces people to pay EI premiums then they have a right to expect benefits if they are unable to work.

Hey, if your looking to make EI optional, then I'm on board. The program wouldn't last long though. It's a certain segement of society that is cronically unemployed, which is generally funded by the rest of us. EI is a huge transfer program... again, from the individuals in employed provinces (notably Alberta, Manitoba for consistantly better than average rates) to the unemployed provinces (Martimes).

EI is a terrible barrier to economic freedom. It encourages people to make economically poor choices. If the majority of workers that are consistantly employed can opt out, the program would be dead in a few years and we'd all be better off.

[margrace]

Geofrey I hope that as you grow up and become a mature person that you never have any bad luck. That you are never in the wrong place at the wrong time. That some unexpected sickness hit you and you cannot work. Your world is a dream for a lot of people who work hard. I know bad luck, one year my husband decided to work for himself, bad choice we ended up living off food that was sent to the dump by the stores. Try that sometime.

[Canuck E Stan]

Geofrey I hope that as you grow up and become a mature person that you never have any bad luck. That you are never in the wrong place at the wrong time. That some unexpected sickness hit you and you cannot work. Your world is a dream for a lot of people who work hard. I know bad luck, one year my husband decided to work for himself, bad choice we ended up living off food that was sent to the dump by the stores. Try that sometime.

People make choices in life, you have made yours.

Maturity can be found in at any age, and I know many young people that are more mature than old people.

A dream world is just that a dream.Today's world is one where you set goals for yourself,get an education,save your money and spend it wisely.This is achieveable by anyone who has the desire to work for those goals,it's rewards were not given to them, they earned it.

No one needs to "try that sometimes". I could question all the choices you made in your life, but I won't. You made them and you have to live with them.

This is a political forum, and your mistakes,choices, and personal issues that has formed your life has no interset to me and I'm sure anyone else.I would suggest if you want to keep discussing your life that you find another forum for that purpose.

[margrace]

Geofrey I hope that as you grow up and become a mature person that you never have any bad luck. That you are never in the wrong place at the wrong time. That some unexpected sickness hit you and you cannot work. Your world is a dream for a lot of people who work hard. I know bad luck, one year my husband decided to work for himself, bad choice we ended up living off food that was sent to the dump by the stores. Try that sometime.

People make choices in life, you have made yours.

Maturity can be found in at any age, and I know many young people that are more mature than old people.

A dream world is just that a dream.Today's world is one where you set goals for yourself,get an education,save your money and spend it wisely.This is achieveable by anyone who has the desire to work for those goals,it's rewards were not given to them, they earned it.

No one needs to "try that sometimes". I could question all the choices you made in your life, but I won't. You made them and you have to live with them.

This is a political forum, and your mistakes,choices, and personal issues that has formed your life has no interset to me and I'm sure anyone else.I would suggest if you want to keep discussing your life that you find another forum for that purpose.

You are diriving down the road and a rich drunk in a big vehicle plows into you and you are a parapalegic. What happens, one should be careful of what one asks for because it might become your nighmare.

[AngusThermopyle]

I tend to agree that we are all free to make the choices that will define our lives, in context of the western world that is. However there are many places in this world where it doesn't matter how hard you work nor how ambitious you are. Places where all your energy would be expended just to survive from day to day. I have spent extensive time in such places and seen with my own eyes the struggle that some of our worlds inhabitants must endure just to subsist.

Asw for the teachers. Well, if they are just part time teachers they could consider another job that compliment their part time job. Full time teachers really shouldn't need to go on EI. We wont even go into the subject of value for money, thats a whole different ball of wax. I do know a few people who work 2 or even 3 jobs to make ends meet. If they can do it then why cant the teachers who find themselves financially strapped do this? Is it that teachers are so sacrosanct they should never have to do anything but teach? Just a question.

As an aside, Margrace made a rather valid point. I really dont believe it warrants telling them to go elsewhere.

[runningdog]

When it comes to part time teachers I suspect part of the problem is government regulation. If the government forces people to pay EI premiums then they have a right to expect benefits if they are unable to work.

Hey, if your looking to make EI optional, then I'm on board. The program wouldn't last long though. It's a certain segement of society that is cronically unemployed, which is generally funded by the rest of us. EI is a huge transfer program... again, from the individuals in employed provinces (notably Alberta, Manitoba for consistantly better than average rates) to the unemployed provinces (Martimes).

EI is a terrible barrier to economic freedom. It encourages people to make economically poor choices. If the majority of workers that are consistantly employed can opt out, the program would be dead in a few years and we'd all be better off.

to what segment are you refering, Geoffrey?

[geoffrey]

to what segment are you refering, Geoffrey?

It's not hard to look at unemployment statistics. Martimers generally are disinterested in work (their participation rate is below 50%, Alberta's is well above 70%), various other segements of the population as well. You always hear ol' Phil Fontaine complaining about how Indians are generally unemployed, but I'm unsure if they get their welfare benefits through other channels than the EI system.

But my point is very accurate. There is a group of people that waver between employment and unemployment. The vast majority of employable people never require EI, as they shouldn't need it in a country like Canada with endless employment opportunities.

If we were in a depression, I may have sympathy, but this country has a huge labour shortage, skilled and unskilled. So ya. Everyone in Canada that is unemployed chooses to be so and really highlights that segement of the population I mentioned earlier.

--

And margrace, the source of infinite stories of personal tradegy, I don't know what getting hit by a truck has to do with EI, but perhaps you can inform me. I know you hate my ideology of personal responsibility for one's actions (responsibility is SO immature right?), but you really should stick to the topic at hand (EI benefits) instead of attempting to appeal to the emotions of readers by attacking posters' characters.

People make choices and need to deal with their own consequences. You can insure anything these days.

[madmax]

On another forum:

Hi all, I have applied for EI for the summer because I am a teacher, and therefore not working..

A response:

I had to apply for EI recently, so maybe I can help. It is really confusing! My DH is a teacher also (occasional on the Peel & Dufferin-Peel boards) so he goes on EI every summer too.

Another:

I went on EI the first year when I was an LTO teacher. You don't get EI money for the first two weeks after your last day of work (not when you get paid). Once those two weeks are finished you will get paid every two weeks.

WTF??????????

I'M *LIVID* RIGHT NOW!

LINK? Where did you get this? I can feel the puffery.

[margrace]

[--

And margrace, the source of infinite stories of personal tradegy, I don't know what getting hit by a truck has to do with EI, but perhaps you can inform me. I know you hate my ideology of personal responsibility for one's actions (responsibility is SO immature right?), but you really should stick to the topic at hand (EI benefits) instead of attempting to appeal to the emotions of readers by attacking posters' characters.

People make choices and need to deal with their own consequences. You can insure anything these days.

Geoffrey I know that respect for elders is not one of the things young people today know anything about. I probably have grandchildren older than you. When you have reached my age then you will get some idea of what life is all about.

[Alexandra]

Geoffrey I know that respect for elders is not one of the things young people today know anything about. I probably have grandchildren older than you. When you have reached my age then you will get some idea of what life is all about.

With due respect Margrace the topic is Employment Insurance. Believe it or not there are many young people today, i.e., Geoffrey, with work ethics and a sense of responsibility/accountability who do not believe that the Government(s) are their Nannies. The sense of entitlement appears not to be with our generation solely but with the previous or in fact, your generation. Whatever gives you and yours the impression that because you or yours made choices in life which ended up with you or yours having to scavenge for food this should somehow be used by you to attempt to humble a younger person who has made more successful choices in life than you and yours?

This is not the first and won't be the last no doubt that Geoffrey and others will be the recipients of a lecture from you reciting all of the misfortunes which have been visited upon you and yours for the past so many long years. But. What does it all have to do with the topic at hand and you Margrace?

`

[mikedavid00]

The vast majority of employable people never require EI, as they shouldn't need it in a country like Canada with endless employment opportunities.

If we were in a depression, I may have sympathy, but this country has a huge labour shortage, skilled and unskilled. So ya. Everyone in Canada that is unemployed chooses to be so and really highlights that segement of the population I mentioned earlier.

Lol..

Those statements were laughable.

Just about every person I ever worked with has used EI but that's because I'm in IT and now 85% of IT jobs in Toronto are contract (heard on radio) so there's never security.

Now the *rare* people in Canada who take up a PROFESSION ie: Teacher, Nurse, ACCOUNTANT (you) will never have problems finding employment. Everyone else is just struggling to get buy and keep their jobs. This includes me.

Yes, now that I'm older, I realize that I should have been a teacher. Without a doubt that is the path I should have taken.

But no, I decided to be 'American' and persue my dreams here in Canada. wow was I in for suprise just how poor Canada is and how little work there is.

40% of all jobs in Canada are in Ontario. That says a lot.

People who are accountants or teachers or nurses are not working real jobs IMO beucase they are always 100% garunteed employment all the time which is NOT the case for the average private sector worker like me who always is wondering when the axe will fall.

But I have to say that accountants really have crapy work so I don't envy them!

[ScottSA]

And margrace, the source of infinite stories of personal tradegy, I don't know what getting hit by a truck has to do with EI, but perhaps you can inform me. I know you hate my ideology of personal responsibility for one's actions (responsibility is SO immature right?), but you really should stick to the topic at hand (EI benefits) instead of attempting to appeal to the emotions of readers by attacking posters' characters.

People make choices and need to deal with their own consequences. You can insure anything these days.

Margrace is like the archtypical crotchety old fuddy duddy who peeks out her window all day and periodically shrieks "hey you whippersnappers! Get off my lawn!" Either that or one half of the Monty Python skit: "...why, when we were young we were lucky to have the price of a cup o' tea..."

[GreenWhiteandPink]

EI is used for more than a safteynet in case someone finds themselves unenployed. You can also claim EI if your are injured and unable to work. Parnets can claim EI and go off on maternty or parternty leave for the first 6-12 after they have a new child (or adopt). If you have a relative with a terminal illness (father with cancer) you can claim EI to take time off work to care for them during their last 6 months of life.

We are very lucky such a program, well worth the $720 a year. Although I believe that seasonal workers should not be covered. I live in NL and it really pisses be off to that fishers and fish plants workers work 10-20 weeks a year and draw EI for the rest, year after year. Alot of other NLers feel the same way.

[Michael Bluth]

We are very lucky such a program, well worth the $720 a year. Although I believe that seasonal workers should not be covered. I live in NL and it really pisses be off to that fishers and fish plants workers work 10-20 weeks a year and draw EI for the rest, year after year. Alot of other NLers feel the same way.

A lot of non-NLers feel the same way as well. Unfortunately, saying so unleashes the fury of the ilk of Danny Williams.

[Riverwind]

We are very lucky such a program, well worth the $720 a year.

It costs you $1728/year - employers have to add in 1.4x the EI deducted. That money could go to you in salary.

[scribblet]

EI is used for more than a safteynet in case someone finds themselves unenployed. You can also claim EI if your are injured and unable to work. Parnets can claim EI and go off on maternty or parternty leave for the first 6-12 after they have a new child (or adopt). If you have a relative with a terminal illness (father with cancer) you can claim EI to take time off work to care for them during their last 6 months of life.

We are very lucky such a program, well worth the $720 a year. Although I believe that seasonal workers should not be covered. I live in NL and it really pisses be off to that fishers and fish plants workers work 10-20 weeks a year and draw EI for the rest, year after year. Alot of other NLers feel the same way.

I thought the rules where changed to stop seasonal workers from collecting. Isn't EI now based on the number of hours worked in a period?

One thing that bothers me is paid maternity benefits from EI - maternity leave is not unemployment, its a lifestyle choice. Would it not be more fair for people to opt into an extended [maternity benefit] plan and pay additional premiums for it?

[BornAlbertan]

One thing that bothers me is paid maternity benefits from EI - maternity leave is not unemployment, its a lifestyle choice. Would it not be more fair for people to opt into an extended [maternity benefit] plan and pay additional premiums for it?

Oh boy, if only we could change whatever bother us eh? Thank god you aren't in charge of the development of future tax payers.