Work-Sharing Brochure

Facing difficult times?

When employers face difficulties beyond their control and are forced to reduce their company’s activity, they may have only two courses of action:

• to lay off employees; or
• to make an agreement with affected employees to participate in a Work-Sharing arrangement.

What is Work-Sharing?

The Work-Sharing Program enables employers to deal with business cutbacks and still avoid laying off employees. Under a Work-Sharing agreement, employers can shorten their employees’ work week by one to three days and pay those employees reduced wages. For the hours, days, or shifts that employees do not work, Service Canada arranges for those employees who are eligible for Employment Insurance (EI) to receive benefits, which helps compensate for the lower wages they receive from the employer.

Win-Win situation

Employees who participate in a Work-Sharing agreement:

• avoid the hardship of being laid off; and
• keep their jobs and maintain their work skills.

Employers who participate in a Work-Sharing agreement:

• retain valued, skilled employees; and
• avoid the expense of hiring and training new employees when work activity returns to normal.

Working together

The employer and the employees must agree to participate in a Work-Sharing agreement and must apply together.

Both the employer and the employees must sign the application and the resulting agreement with Service Canada. All parties must sign the agreement before its start date.

During the period of the Work-Sharing agreement, the employer, the employees, and Service Canada have the right to terminate the agreement at any time.

Strengthening benefits

Recognizing the uncertainty facing many businesses, the Government of Canada has introduced improvements to the Work-Sharing Program.

Work-Sharing agreements must last for a minimum of six weeks. As part of Canada's Economic Action Plan, the Government has extended Work-Sharing agreements by 14 weeks to a maximum of 52 weeks to give companies more time to recover. This extension is in effect until April 3, 2010. The Government is also increasing access to the Work-Sharing Program by making the qualifying criteria more flexible and by streamlining processes for employers. This means that more Canadians can continue working while companies experience temporary slowdowns.

The Government of Canada knows that, by keeping Canadians working, it can minimize the impact of this difficult economic time.

Work-Sharing agreements generally do not affect workers’ rights to regular EI benefits if they happen to be laid off after the agreement ends.

No waiting period for benefits

Participants do not have to serve a two-week waiting period to receive Work-Sharing benefits. However, it may take a few weeks for the first cheque to arrive.

Who can participate?

Permanent full-time or part-time employees of a company are eligible to participate in the Work-Sharing Program. To receive Work-Sharing benefits, employees must be eligible to receive regular EI benefits. To set up a Work-Sharing agreement, there must be at least two participating employees.

How can employers qualify?

To be eligible, employers must have been in business in Canada year-round for at least two years. They must also be able to show that the need to reduce hours is temporary and unavoidable, and is not a seasonal situation.

As part of the application process, the employer must also prepare a recovery plan. The plan will outline the steps the employer is taking to ensure the business remains viable during the period of the agreement, so that the employer can recover when the economy strengthens.

Note

• Service Canada cannot approve or continue to support a Work-Sharing agreement during a labour dispute.

ROE Web

The easiest way for employers to submit Records of Employment (ROE) once a Work-Sharing agreement is approved is through ROE Web.

Using ROE Web, employers can:

• complete one or hundreds of ROEs in minutes at the touch of a button;
• view, retrieve, and amend ROEs anytime;
• eliminate mailing costs;
• save time and increase productivity; and
• reduce calls and requests for payroll information from Service Canada.

For more information about the Work-Sharing Program

• Click Work-Sharing Program
• Call 1-866-891-5319 (TTY: 1-800-926-9105)
• Visit your local Service Canada Centre

To find the Service Canada Centre nearest you, visit www.servicecanada.gc.ca and select "Find a Service Canada Centre Near You."