Many employees working in the hospitality and tourism sector, particularly in rural areas of this province, are seasonal workers. Thus, the Federal Government’s recent decision to extend EI for seasonal workers is a welcomed announcement for our sector.

To better support seasonal workers, the Government of Canada will continue to provide up to 5 additional weeks of Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits to eligible seasonal workers in the Newfoundland and Labrador economic region outside of St. John’s Metro.

If you’re a seasonal worker from this economic region and you start an EI claim from September 26, 2021 to October 28, 2023, you may be eligible for up to 5 additional weeks of regular benefits if one of the 2 following situations applies to you:

1. at the time your claim starts, you meet the seasonal worker criteria:

• in the previous 5 years, you had at least 3 EI claims for which you received regular or fishing benefits, and
• at least 2 of those EI claims started around the same time of year as your current claim.

Or
2. at the time your claim starts, you don’t meet the seasonal worker criteria, but you did meet these criteria on an EI claim that started between August 5, 2018 and September 25, 2021.