An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (combined weeks of benefits rule and certain benefits)

Bill C-249 makes several changes to Employment Insurance rules, mainly affecting parents and people caring for critically ill family members. Under the current "combined weeks" rule, when someone qualifies for more than one type of special benefit (such as maternity, parental, or caregiving benefits) in the same claim period, the total number of weeks they can receive is capped at 50 weeks combined. This bill removes that cap for pregnancy (maternity) benefits and for parental benefits, meaning these benefits will no longer be squeezed by the 50-week combined limit.

The bill also allows a claimant's benefit period to be extended in certain situations involving both regular EI benefits and pregnancy or parental benefits, so that people don't lose access to weeks of benefits they're otherwise entitled to simply because their benefit period would otherwise run out too soon.

Finally, the bill increases, from 15 to 26, the maximum number of weeks of EI benefits available to someone who is providing care or support to a critically ill adult family member. This change applies both to employees and to self-employed people who receive EI special benefits, and related provisions about sharing or dividing these caregiving weeks between multiple caregivers of the same ill adult are updated to reflect the new 26-week maximum.

This bill amends the Employment Insurance Act to change how pregnancy, parental, and critically-ill-adult-care benefits are calculated, combined, and extended, and to raise the maximum weeks payable for caring for a critically ill adult from fifteen to twenty-six.

• Benefit period extension — claimants who received regular benefits plus benefits for a reason under paragraph 12(3)(b) (where the maximum weeks are set under subparagraph 12(3)(b)(ii)), and were paid for fewer weeks than the total set out in subsection 12(6), can have their benefit period extended, up to a cap of 26 weeks.
• Exclusion from the combined weeks cap — pregnancy benefits, parental benefits, and critically-ill-adult-care benefits are excluded from the general 50-week combined weeks of benefits cap, allowing claimants to receive these benefit types beyond that ceiling.
• Increased maximum for critical illness care — the maximum number of weeks payable to a claimant caring for a critically ill adult rises from fifteen to twenty-six weeks, with a corresponding 26-week cap within a 52-week period when multiple claims or certificates are made for the same adult.
• Division of weeks between multiple caregivers — where more than one claimant (employee or self-employed) claims benefits for the same critically ill adult, the remaining weeks (up to 26) may be divided as the claimants agree; if they cannot agree, division follows rules to be set by regulation, leaving the specific method undefined in the bill itself.
• Repeal of Schedule IV — Schedule IV to the Employment Insurance Act is repealed, removing whatever list or table it contained from the Act.
• No new enforcement or oversight mechanism — the bill does not create any new body, reporting requirement, or review process; it only alters entitlement rules and caps within the existing EI administrative structure.