The Canadian Worker Lockdown Benefit has officially replaced the Canadian Recovery Benefit (CRB) earlier in October, according to a recent announcement made by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. However, the federal government highlighted that if a particular worker were booted from employment because of their vaccination status, the new benefit would be inapplicable.
This Canadian federal government’s website explicitly provided this condition in the update posted that discussed the new benefit’s details. According to the said update, “individuals whose loss of income or employment is due to their refusal to adhere to a vaccine mandate would not be able to access the benefit.”
Freeland pointed out that this benefits program is in line with the country’s “road to economic recovery and employment is now back to pre-pandemic levels,” where the government is “making adjustments to pandemic income support programs to reflect the new phase of the recovery.” The said bulletin also highlighted that the government, through its Finance Department, is moving from broad-based programs to more narrowly targeted support.
The Department of Finance’s online bulletin provided that the Canadian Worker Lockdown Benefit has a weekly payment of $300, and its implementation is slated until May 7, 2022. Moreover, applications for the Canadian Worker Lockdown Benefit will be retroactive to October 24, 2021.
Moreover, if getting vaccinated is a condition for continued employment and a worker gets sacked for not receiving the shots, then that individual would not be able to get in on the Canadian Worker Lockdown Benefit. Moreover, workers who were let go due to a reasonable cause are also not eligible for employment insurance (EI).
