Applicant Guide

E. Instructions for Completing the Work-Sharing Application

This section will assist you in completing your application for Work-Sharing. It is essential that the application be fully and accurately completed, and signed by an employer representative (with the authority to enter into a legal agreement) and an employee and/or union representative.

Incomplete Work-Sharing applications will delay Service Canada’s assessment of your application.

Your application MUST include a completed Attachment A (EMP 5101), which identifies all Work-Sharing unit members.  Please use the form (EMP 5101) in HTML, PDF or Excel format available at the Service Canada Work-Sharing Web site.

i. Part 1 - Employer Information

* The box numbers listed match the Work-Sharing application form (EMP 5100).

  • Name of Employer (box 4) – Provide the name by which the business is commonly known.
  • Date Business Established in Canada (box5) - Enter the date the business was established in Canada (at the location that is submitting the application).
  • Legal Name of Employer (box 6) - Enter the legal name of your organization. This is the name that is associated with your registration with the Canada Revenue Agency.
  • Mailing Address (box 7) - Enter the address to which all correspondence is to be sent.  This may be a street address including the city and postal code or a post office.
  • Street Address (box 8) - Enter the street address of the business location applying for Work-Sharing, if it is different from the mailing address.
  • City/Town/Province/Territory (boxes 9–10) - Enter the full name of the city/town in which the business is located, as well as the applicable province or territory.
  • Postal Code (box 11) - Enter the valid postal code for the business location.
  • Telephone and Fax Numbers (boxes 12 - 13) - Enter the main telephone and fax numbers normally used for business purposes.
  • E-mail Address (box 14) - Specify the e-mail address that you wish to be used for future correspondence regarding your application.
  • Web Site (box 15) - If the business has a web site, provide the Internet address.
  • Canada Revenue Agency Taxation No. (box 16) - Enter the 15-character number that the Canada Revenue Agency assigned to the business for making remittances for employee deductions.
  • Name and Title of Authorized Employer Representative (box 17) - Enter the name and title of the representative with legal signing authorityfor the business who is submitting the application and who will sign the agreement.
  • Telephone Number (box 18) - If the employer representative uses a different number than the main telephone number for the business, enter it here.
  • Total Number of Employees at this Location (box 19) – Enter the number of people employed within your company at the location of business identified in Box 8.
  • Name of Union Official (box 20) - If there are employees within your company who are members of a union, you must supply the name of the union steward.  This is the person who will sign the Work-Sharing agreement on behalf of the unionized employees in the Work-Sharing unit.
  • Area Code/Telephone Number (box 21) - Enter the full telephone number for the union steward (if applicable).
  • Union Name and Local No. (box 22) - Provide the name and local number of the union that represents all union employees included in the Work-Sharing unit.
  • Name of Employee Representative (box 23) - Provide the name of the person representing the non-unionized employees in the Work-Sharing unit.
  • Area Code/Telephone Number (box 24) - Enter the full telephone number for the employee representative for non-unionized employees (if applicable).
  • Name of Bookkeeper/Accountant (box 25) - Enter the name of the employee responsible for preparing payroll records, taxes, and issuing of cheques.
  • Area Code/Telephone Number (box 26) - If the bookkeeper/accountant has a different telephone number than the business telephone number, enter it here.
  • Submission of one or more applications to other Service Canada Centres? (box 27) – Indicate whether your company (including other offices in Canada with the same company name) has recently submitted an application(s) for Work-Sharing to any other Service Canada Centre(s). If you select “Yes”, provide the specific location(s) where you submitted the other application(s) (e.g. Service Canada Centre in Winnipeg, 100 - 614 Des Meurons St. or Winnipeg La Verendrye Service Canada Centre)
  • Description and history of the company (box 28) - Describe what type of business your company is involved in including the type of goods produced or the services provided as well as information on your typical clients or customers.
  • Record of sales/production and employment levels (box 29) - The record must clearly detail the employer’s gross sales or production as well as the number of employees (at the location identified in box 8) over the past twenty-four months, broken down by month.
  • Cause and duration of work shortage (box 30) – Provide a detailed explanation for the cause of the work shortage and its expected duration. e.g. problems obtaining raw materials, unexpected market shifts, changes in the industrial sector or local labour market, etc.
  • Labour Dispute (box 31) – If the work shortage is due to a labour dispute, such as a work slowdown, strike, lockout or work stoppage, within the business or with a customer or supplier, select “Yes.” Otherwise, select “No.”
  • Recovery Plan (box 32) – How to complete the recovery plan template:
    • Section A - Provide a clear outline of activities which will be taken during the life of the agreement to return the Work-Sharing unit(s) to normal working hours, thereby preventing layoffs. This outline must include activities that are over and above your day-to-day business. A description of any training activities for the members of the Work-Sharing unit(s) may be included.
    • Section B - Explain how the planned activities (outlined in section A) address the cause of the work shortage.
    • Section C - Provide a brief summary of the current labour market conditions. Smaller businesses may focus on their local community while larger companies should address the industry as a whole. (e.g. what are the job prospects in the industry/community for employees should they be laid off?)
    • Section D - Indicate whether or not you expect that the planned activities (outlined in section A) will ensure that your employees return to full-time work by the end of the agreement. Please explain your answer in two or three sentences.
  • Measures taken prior to applying for the program (Box 33) – Briefly describe what your company has done to overcome the downturn in business before applying for the Work-Sharing program.

ii. Part 2 - Employment History

  • Average weekly earnings per Work-Sharing unit (box 34) - Enter the average weekly earnings (over the last six months) for all participating employees in each Work-Sharing unit using the following formula: total weekly gross earnings of participating employees in the unit divided by the number of participating employees in the unit.
  • The shortage of work is expected to be: (box 35) - Select the option that best describes the nature of the work shortage. If the work shortage is temporary, indicate the number of weeks the shortage is expected to last.
  • Return to normal hours of employment (box 36) - Indicate the date (in YYYY-MM-DD format) that you anticipate all employees to return to normal working hours.
  • Number of temporary layoffs should Work-Sharing not be approved (box 37) - Enter the number of employees that you will have to temporarily lay off if your Work-Sharing application is not approved.
  • Number of weeks of temporary layoff (box 38) - Specify the number of weeks for which employees will be on temporary layoff, should Work-Sharing not be approved.  Under the Work-Sharing program, a temporary layoff is considered to be between 6 and 26 weeks.
  • Number of employees on Work-Sharing (box 39) - Specify the number of core employees to be included in the Work-Sharing unit(s) and include any employees who will be called back to work from a recent layoff.
  • Are there any planned shut-downs? (box 40) - Indicate whether there are any shut-downs planned for the business. If you select “Yes,” provide the date (in YYYY-MM-DD format) that you expect the shut-down to begin.
  • Other employees not on Work-Sharing (box 41) - If there are employees who will not be included in Work-Sharing but who have the same job duties as those who are to be included, please select “Yes.”
  • Hours/days/shifts of work per week while on Work-Sharing (box 42) - Provide an approximation of the hours, days, and/or shifts of work that you will be able to offer each employee who is to participate in Work-Sharing.

iii. Part 3 - Costs

  • Number of weeks (box 43) - Specify the number of Work-Sharing weeks that you are requesting.  The minimum required for a Work-Sharing agreement is 6 weeks and the initial maximum is 26 weeks.
  • % reduction of work hours (box 44) - Provide the estimated schedule of work reduction for the duration of the agreement; the average reduction in business activity must be no less than 10% and no more than 60%. The average reduction should be comparable to the percentage of anticipated layoffs (Box 37) within your workforce. (See section C, subsection ix for the definition of “workforce”.)
  • Requested start date of the Work-Sharing agreement (box 45) – Indicate the date (in YYYY-MM-DD format) on which you would like your Work-Sharing agreement to begin. (Date must be a Sunday.)

Signature of Employer, Union and/or Employee Representative(s)

It is important that the parties involved, i.e. the employer and union and/or employee representative(s) understand that by signing the Work-Sharing application, they are making an attestation as per the following.

  • They accept that, subject to the terms of the Work-Sharing agreement, all information contained in the application provided by the employer, the union(s) or employee representative(s) will be treated as confidential in accordance with applicable legislation and used solely for the purpose of determining eligibility under the Work-Sharing program of the project described in the application, and in support of research and statistical gathering activities.
  • The employer, the union(s) or employee representative(s) make application for approval by the Commission of their Work-Sharing project in accordance with Section 24 of Employment Insurance Act and Sections 42-49 of the Employment Insurance Regulations but agree that the preparation and filing of this application does not create any obligation on the part of the employer, the union(s), employee representative(s) or the Canada Employment Insurance Commission.
  • They understand that deliberately giving false or misleading information for the purpose of entering into a Work-Sharing agreement shall be subject to penalties as provided under the Employment Insurance Act.

In addition, the employer agrees to provide such documentation as may be required by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission, including copies of payroll records, for purposes of verifying the information provided in the application.

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