The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is against proposed changes to the Employment Insurance Act, stating they are irresponsible and damaging to the economy.
Bill C-308, which is currently being contemplated by the House of Commons, would reduce the qualifying period for employment insurance (EI) benefits to 360 hours worked, increase the benefits to 60% of total salary and base that salary calculation on the highest-paid non-consecutive 12 weeks worked for the employee, it was stated in a press release.
EI premiums are set to rise by their maximum allowable amount in 2011 (not including the added costs of Bill C-308) and will likely continue rising until 2014. According to CFIB, these payroll tax increases could result in as many as 170,000 lost jobs.
“This bill would drastically increase EI rates as people would qualify for incredibly generous benefits after only nine weeks of full-time work,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB senior vice-president, in the media release. “Not only would this encourage abuse of the EI system and make it harder for businesses to hire skilled workers, it would also add enormous cost pressures to a system that is already in massive deficit. It’s totally irresponsible of them to even be debating a measure like that at this time.”
