Today in Canada! pogey train for the "self-employed" ?

[viper37]

I haven't looked into it. I suppose it would depend on the definition of "self employed" and how much they would be expected to pay in.  Plus there could be all sorts of administration problems causing expense.

as per your tax declaration, I suppose.
Employment income VS Business income.
Plus the little things like being registered as an employer for source deductions and contributions.
Possibly being registered for GST+PST (above 30k revenues it's mandatory).

Basically, the same criterias already used for tax purposes.  The same ones they use to deny you unemployment payments even if you paid your premiums.

[viper37]

Yeah..i was going to ask about that. EI premiums are subsidized by the employer right? I guess that self-employed would have to pay a larger premium, I imagine.

Employer pay 1.4x what the employees pay.
The way it's gonna work, is I think the same as RRQ (Régie des Rentes du Québec/RPC in Canada), is that the self-employ will pay both amounts, assuming he pays himself a salary.

[viper37]

OK. I wasn't aware of that. By income replacment you mean if they lose their jobs? So they'll only claim for maternity leave? What other cases are there? Illness is not covered by EI, that's through health plans.

It is covered.  And you can get your 2 weeks wait at the end of your subsidy period instead of the beginning.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

I haven't looked into it. I suppose it would depend on the definition of "self employed" and how much they would be expected to pay in.  Plus there could be all sorts of administration problems causing expense.

EI is actually more of a payroll tax than an insurance scheme. Everyone who works as an employee pays it, and then still may not qualify if they get laid off, because of "lack of hours, regionally adjusted, in the past year." it doesn't matter if you have been paying for 15 years...it's only the last year that counts.

EI generates about 40-50 billion dollars in revenue every year for the government. it's a very successful program. 

ya, this has always irked me a bit. If I got laid off tomorrow in a way that qualified me for EI (Unlikely to happen) I'd still have to wait six weeks for my less than 50% of earnings from the last year. I would have no choice but to get a job before a cheque ever got close to me.

waste of my money every month really.