* A division of labor unit is an integrative group of employees with similar work tasks who agree to reduce their working hours by an equal percentage over a period of time. Incomplete work-sharing applications may delay Service Canada`s assessment of your application. If you do not recover as planned during the WS program and the employees are laid off, the employee can apply to transfer their division of labour entitlement to a regular entitlement to EI benefits. The rate of benefits and the normal duration are not reduced by the division of labour. On April 3 and 4, 2020, Service Canada released two new fact sheets outlining the temporary special measures it is implementing under the Federal Division of Labour`s COVID-19 Response Program. These measures, which build on previously announced changes to the division of labour program, aim to streamline and expedite the labour-sharing application process to help employers avoid further layoffs and layoffs. State laws on unemployment insurance must be amended to establish division of labor programs. There are twenty-eight (28) states with division of labor laws (see Figure 1). The requirement to submit a reorganization plan in support of a division of labour application has been removed and replaced by a single line of text in the division of labour application form. Now, employers only have to submit the Division of Labour Application Form and Appendix A: Division of Labour Units Annex, which lists the employees who have agreed to participate in the agreement. Please note that work-sharing agreements can only start on Sundays to accommodate the EI payment cycle, please also consider this when planning your work-sharing application.

Please note that the following employees are NOT eligible for division of labour: All work-sharing agreements are covered by COVID-19 temporary special measures. The Canadian government has extended these measures until September 24, 2022, and employers may be able to request a subsequent 26-week agreement. Prior to COVID-19, employers were required to submit division of labour applications at least 30 days prior to the start date of the proposed division of labour agreement. Given the rapid economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this long wait has made the division of labor an impractical solution for many employers facing immediate financial challenges. Service Canada has now confirmed that employers can submit work-sharing requests 10 calendar days before the desired start date and that they are using additional resources to process work-sharing requests as quickly as possible. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, employers had to submit a stimulus package with their request for division of labor, outlining the steps they would take under the labor sharing agreement to alleviate the labor shortage and bring the labor sharing unit back to normal hours. Employers who had previously used the division of labor program were also required to observe a waiting period equal to the number of weeks of the previous division of labor agreement up to a maximum of 38 weeks before they could start a new work-sharing agreement with the same employees. As described below, the Government has amended or eliminated these and other requirements to make the Workforce Sharing Program more accessible to employers across Canada. The Canadian government has put in place temporary special measures extending the maximum duration of work-sharing agreements from 38 weeks to 76 weeks across Canada for businesses affected by the COVID-19 business decline and for the steel and aluminum sectors.

Go to the Temporary Special Measures for Division of Labor page to see if you are eligible. A WS agreement must exist for at least six consecutive weeks and can last up to 26 consecutive weeks, with currently a temporary option to extend agreements up to 76 weeks. The reduction in hours may vary from week to week, but the average reduction during an agreement should be between 10 and 60%. To participate in a labour-sharing agreement, an employer must generally (a) operate a year-round business in Canada for at least two years, and (b) provide records showing that sales or production levels have recently decreased by 10% or more. Service Canada has now expanded eligibility to employers who have only been in business for one year and has eliminated the requirement for employers to provide sales or production figures that demonstrate a 10% reduction in business activity. State-owned enterprises and non-profit employers who are short of work due to a reduction in business activity or a reduction in income due to COVID-19 are also entitled to the division of labor. .