Will my unemployment payments be reduced if I work a few days during my waiting period?

The situation

I am a self-employed freelance graphic designer living in Canada, and I have been struggling to find steady work since my main contract ended on October 1st. I finally applied for unemployment benefits, and I was told that my first week is a mandatory waiting period. However, a small client just reached out and offered me a tiny bit of extra labour to finish a project, which would take up about two days of my time this coming week. I am worried because I really need the full amount of my weekly benefit cheque to cover my rent and grocery bills. I already tried calling the general help line to ask about this, but the person I spoke to was quite vague and just told me to check the manual online. If I accept this two-day job during my initial waiting week, will they take a portion of my weekly payment away to account for those two days? Specifically, I want to know if they will deduct a fifth of my weekly rate for each day I am working, or if the whole week's payment just disappears. I need to know if the penalty applies to the waiting period differently than if I worked during a normal week later on.

Detailed Analysis

Because you are a self-employed graphic designer, specific rules apply to how your earnings affect your benefits during the mandatory waiting period. The law states that if you are not entitled to benefits for a specific working day because you worked, a deduction occurs.

Specifically, the law says that "an amount equal to 1/5 of their weekly rate of benefits for each such working day shall be deducted from the benefits payable for the three weeks described in subsection 152.18(1)"^[1]. This means that for every day you spend on this two-day project, the government will take away one-fifth (20%) of your weekly benefit rate. Since you plan to work for two days, you should expect a deduction of 2/5 (or 40%) of your weekly benefit rate from the payments you would receive during the first three weeks of your claim^[1].

This rule for the waiting period is similar to how deductions work during a normal week of unemployment. For a standard week that is not a waiting period, the law provides that "an amount equal to 1/5 of their weekly rate of benefits for each such working day shall be deducted from the benefits payable for that week"^[2].

In your specific case, if you accept this two-day job, you will not lose your entire weekly payment, but you will receive less than the full amount. The exact amount of the deduction depends on your weekly benefit rate. Please note that state, provincial, or local laws may add further rules regarding employment insurance; you should check with your local employment agency for any additional regional requirements.

Statutory Citations

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