Vol. 143, No. 14 — July 8, 2009

Registration

SOR/2009-187 June 18, 2009

EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT

Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations

RESOLUTION

The Canada Employment Insurance Commission, pursuant to paragraph 54(q) and subsection 143(1) of the Employment Insurance Act, hereby makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations.

Ottawa, June 3, 2009

JANICE CHARETTE
Chairperson
Employment Insurance Commission

PATRICIA BLACKSTAFFE
Commissioner (Workers)
Employment Insurance Commission

ANDRÉ PICHÉ
Commissioner (Employers)
Employment Insurance Commission

P.C. 2009-991 June 18, 2009

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, pursuant to paragraph 54(q) and subsection 143(1) of the Employment Insurance Act (see footnote a), hereby approves the annexed Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations, made by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission.

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE REGULATIONS

AMENDMENT

1. Section 55.1 of the Employment Insurance Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following:

55.1 Employers who participate in a program to enable the Commission to substantiate proof provided to it by claimants in respect of their fulfilment of conditions for receiving or continuing to receive benefits shall provide, electronically on a monthly basis, the following information to the Commission in respect of their employees:

(a) dates of commencement of employment;

(b) periods of employment; and

(c) amounts earned during employment.

COMING INTO FORCE

2. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT
ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issue and objectives

The purpose of amending section 55.1 of the Employment Insurance Regulations is to support Service Canada’s plan to modernize and render more efficient the reporting systems for employer participants in the Report on Hirings (ROH), an Employment Insurance (EI) early detection program. The amended Regulations will, as well, clarify reporting obligations of employers who choose to participate in EI early detection and intervention programs, such as ROH and the Automated Earnings Reporting System (AERS).

Description and rationale

Section 55.1 of the Employment Insurance Regulations was put in place in December 2004 (SOR/2004-312) to address provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) with respect to the disclosure of personal information which came into effect on January 1, 2004. Its purpose is to reaffirm Service Canada’s lawful authority to collect and employer authority to provide current employee information to support EI verification programs administered by Service Canada.

Service Canada is responsible for the two early detection programs, the AERS and the ROH, which were developed in the late 1970s. Those programs play an important role in protecting the integrity of the EI program and are operated with the support of both employee and employer groups. By matching hiring information (new hires/recalls) received from employer participants against the EI claim load file, the EI program can more readily identify cases where a claimant is in receipt of EI benefits while working and has not reported or misreported their earnings. Labour groups appreciate that early intervention leads to early detection and reduced overpayments for claimants, while participating employers appreciate the reduction in paper burden with respect to requests for payroll information they would otherwise receive during a claim audit.

The revised amendment would modernize EI early detection and prevention reporting systems and would bring to an end the current practice of requiring the more than 20 000 employer participants to submit monthly, paper-based reports to Service Canada by regular mail. Rather, employer participants will submit reports through a more efficient, secure Internet-based reporting system. Replacing the paper-based reporting system supports a broader government-wide Paper Burden Reduction Initiative. With this new electronic system Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) will reduce the number of paper transactions by 350 000 per year. During the implementation and the phase-in period employers responded positively to the conversion. The government will see some savings by moving from paper to electronic processing because there will no longer be the need to open envelopes and manually input information into a database.

The revised section 55.1 of the Employment Insurance Regulations will more precisely identify the employee information that employers, who choose to participate in early detection programs, will be required to submit electronically. In this regard, upon the Regulations coming into force, employer participants shall provide electronically on a monthly basis in respect of their employees,

(a) dates of commencement of employment;

(b) periods of employment; and

(c) amounts earned during employment.

Consultation

The proposed amendment was pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I on June 14, 2008 for a 30-day period. In response to the pre-publication, letters were received from two organizations, the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA) and a company that provides a wide variety of consulting services related to payroll, employee administration, HR/payroll transactions in Canada.

The specific concerns of the CPA included:

• The implication for employers of implementing the new electronic system;
• The possible reduction of the participation to a voluntary program; and
• The consultation process.

With respect to the first point, only Internet access is needed to participate in the two early detection programs. In addition, to facilitate the transition from a paper to an electronic reporting system, in October 2008, employers were notified by mail that effective November 1, 2008, the new electronic system would be operational. During that period, a call centre was set up to provide the necessary assistance.

With respect to the second point, in order to avoid a reduction of the voluntary participation, Service Canada was and still is concentrating its resources and efforts to support participants in their conversion to the electronic system and the recruitment of new employers in for early intervention detection programs.

With respect to the last point, Service Canada has conducted extensive consultations with employer participants, many of whom are CPA members. The majority of participants were enthusiastic about the shift from paper to electronic reporting system. Going forward, Service Canada will be promoting the two early detection programs at the CPA’s next Annual Conference and Trade Show that will take place in June 2009.

The specific suggestions of the consulting services company included:

• The need to put more stress on the voluntary aspect of the programs;
• Addition of the Social Insurance Number (SIN) to the list of information required; and
• Maintain the “reasons for leaving” on the list of information required in order to eliminate the need for participating employers to complete a Record of Employment in the event of interruption of earnings.

With respect to the first point, HRSDC has been and continues to be sensitive to the need to clarify in the regulation the voluntary nature of the early detection and intervention programs. The wording in section 55.1 has been changed to reflect this voluntary participation. Moreover, the voluntary participation is now stressed in communications material going to employers.

With respect to the second point, regarding the suggestion to include the SIN in the list of requested information, there is no need to do so as the Commission already has the authority to collect it. While not specifically requested in this regulation, individual identifiers will be provided under existing provisions.

Finally, with respect to the last suggestion about the use of early detection information for the purpose of the Record of Employment (ROE), it is important to note that the new wording no longer refers to the “reason for leaving” as this information is not required by the early detection programs. In addition, eliminating the need for participating employers to complete a ROE is not a viable option in the short term, as the information gathered through ROH and AERS is not adequate to support an EI claim. Further, our electronic systems are not designed to amalgamate information gathered through ROE, ROH and AERS. That being said, new consultations with CPA have started to find ways to take advantage of the information gathered through various programs and improve their efficiency.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

A comprehensive transition strategy has been implemented by Service Canada to ensure that participating employers in the EI early detection and intervention programs can easily switch to the new electronic reporting system. The strategy includes proactive communication directly with all program participants, a transition period and the establishment of a call centre to assist employers during the conversion process. The systems development costs and communications with employers are within existing departmental resources.

Contact

Michael Duffy
Director
Legislative and Regulatory Policy Design
Employment Insurance Policy Directorate
Skills and Employment Branch
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
140 Promenade du Portage, 5th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0J9
Telephone: 819-997-5034
Fax: 819-934-6631

Footnote a
S.C. 1996, c. 23

Footnote 1
SOR/96-332

NOTICE:
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