Canada has extended several temporary Employment Insurance measures into 2027 and added a new rule for claims starting October 11, 2026. The one-week waiting-period waiver and the temporary treatment of separation earnings now apply to qualifying claims through October 9, 2027, while eligible long-tenured workers can receive up to 20 additional weeks for claims starting through June 12, 2027.

Service Canada also introduced a temporary measure for claims starting between October 11, 2026 and October 9, 2027: only the claimant’s most recent reason for separation is reviewed. If the most recent job was lost through no fault of the claimant, all insurable employment and hours accumulated during the qualifying period can be used to establish the claim.

The practical result is that October 10 is no longer the end of the temporary EI support package. Workers starting a new claim should check the new eligibility windows rather than relying on the earlier October 10 deadline.

What temporary EI measures are now in place?

Employment and Social Development Canada now lists four temporary EI measures introduced or extended in response to major changes in economic conditions.

The official temporary EI measures page now confirms different end dates for the individual measures, with some continuing into October 2027.

The current measures include:

• reviewing only the most recent reason for separation for qualifying claims starting October 11, 2026
• waiving the normal one-week EI waiting period
• suspending the usual allocation of certain earnings paid when employment ends
• providing up to 20 additional weeks of regular EI benefits for qualifying long-tenured workers

They do not eliminate the normal eligibility requirements for EI.

A claimant still needs to qualify for the type of EI benefit being requested.

The one-week unpaid waiting period remains waived

Normally, an eligible EI claimant has one week for which no benefits are paid.

Service Canada describes this waiting period as similar to an insurance deductible.

Under the updated temporary rule, the waiting period is waived for new EI benefit claims that start between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027.

That means eligible claims within the temporary window can begin receiving benefits without first losing one payable week to the normal waiting period.

Once the temporary measure no longer applies, the standard EI system again includes the one-week unpaid waiting period for a new claim unless another specific exemption applies.

The claim start date still matters

The federal wording is important.

The measure applies to claims that start within the qualifying period.

Workers should therefore not assume that simply waiting until the deadline to submit an application will automatically produce a particular result.

Service Canada recommends applying for EI as soon as you stop working.

Delaying an application in an attempt to time the claim around the deadline can create other problems and is not necessary to determine eligibility.

Severance and vacation pay still receive temporary treatment

The second temporary measure can have an even larger effect for workers receiving money when their job ends.

Under the normal EI rules, amounts paid because of a layoff or separation can be considered earnings.

These can include:

• severance pay
• vacation pay
• pay in lieu of notice
• closure bonuses
• certain accumulated sick-leave payments

Normally, separation earnings may be allocated to weeks following the end of employment.

That allocation can delay when EI becomes payable.

The government explains the normal treatment in its EI earnings guidance.

What did the temporary rule change?

For qualifying claims or allocations starting between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027, separation earnings are temporarily not deducted from EI benefits under this measure.

This can allow some laid-off workers to begin receiving EI without first waiting for severance or similar payments to be allocated over future weeks.

Once the temporary treatment no longer applies, the standard allocation rules again become important.

Claimants should still report severance, vacation pay and other amounts received when employment ends. Service Canada determines how the temporary rule applies to the specific payment and claim.

The result depends on what the payment is, why it was paid and how the EI regulations treat that type of earnings.

A severance package can affect EI timing

Consider a worker who is laid off and receives several weeks of severance pay.

Under the normal system, Service Canada may allocate qualifying separation earnings beginning with the week of the layoff based on the worker’s normal weekly earnings.

That can postpone the weeks for which EI is payable.

This is why someone comparing two EI claims should not look only at the weekly benefit amount.

The timing of severance, vacation pay and the start of a benefit period can also matter.

Some long-tenured workers can receive 20 extra weeks

The long-tenured worker measure is limited to people who meet specific conditions.

An eligible worker can receive 20 additional weeks of regular EI benefits, up to a total maximum of 65 weeks.

To qualify under the updated temporary measure, the claim must start between June 15, 2025 and June 12, 2027.

The claimant must also have received at least one week of regular EI benefits and meet the government’s definition of a long-tenured worker.

Who counts as a long-tenured worker?

Service Canada requires both of the following conditions:

• the worker received fewer than 36 weeks of regular or fishing EI benefits during the three years before the claim started
• the worker paid at least 30% of the annual maximum EI premium in at least seven of the 10 years before the year the claim started

If a claimant qualifies, the additional weeks are automatically added to the claim.

The benefit period is also extended by 20 weeks so the worker has additional time to use those benefits.

The long-tenured worker measure now runs into 2027

The revised eligibility window now covers qualifying claims that start through June 12, 2027.

Workers who already qualified do not lose the additional weeks simply because the earlier October 10, 2026 deadline passed.

If a claimant qualifies, the additional weeks are added automatically and the benefit period is extended by 20 weeks.

Why were these measures introduced?

The federal government introduced the temporary rules as Canada faced layoffs and labour-market uncertainty related to international tariffs and major changes in economic conditions.

The measures were originally scheduled to end earlier, were extended through October 10, 2026, and have now been extended again with updated eligibility windows reaching into 2027.

The Canada Gazette regulations specifically extended the measures by six months.

The government estimated that tens of thousands of additional EI claims would benefit during the extension period.

Work-Sharing and seasonal EI measures remain separate

The temporary measures described above should also be kept separate from other special Employment Insurance programs.

For example, the federal EI page says special measures for the Work-Sharing Program remain in place from March 7, 2025 through March 31, 2028.

Work-Sharing allows employers facing a temporary reduction in business activity to reduce employees’ working hours while EI helps replace part of the lost income.

That program operates separately from the temporary measures discussed above.

A separate temporary measure for eligible seasonal claimants in 13 EI regions is also scheduled to continue until October 24, 2026. It can provide up to five additional weeks of regular EI benefits, subject to the seasonal-worker rules. That program has a different eligibility test from the measures discussed above.

A new separation rule applies from October 11, 2026

For EI claims starting between October 11, 2026 and October 9, 2027, Service Canada reviews only the claimant’s most recent reason for separation when deciding whether previous insurable employment and hours can count toward the claim.

Normally, voluntarily leaving an earlier job without just cause or losing an earlier job because of misconduct can prevent the hours and insurable employment from that job from being used to establish an EI claim.

Under the temporary rule, if the claimant lost the most recent job through no fault of their own, all insurable employment and hours accumulated during the qualifying period can be used to establish the claim.

The change does not remove the normal requirement to qualify for EI. It changes how earlier separations are treated when Service Canada determines whether a new claim can be established.

Do not wait to apply just because severance has not arrived

Service Canada advises workers to apply for EI as soon as they stop working.

A claimant does not need to wait until every detail involving severance or other final payments has been settled before submitting an application.

Service Canada can determine how the earnings affect the claim after the relevant information is provided.

The EI regular benefits application guidance explains the information a worker should prepare.

EI costs are also changing in 2027

The temporary benefit rules and the 2027 EI premium rate are separate issues: one affects access to benefits, while the other affects what workers and employers pay into Employment Insurance next year.

The 2027 EI premium rate has already been announced.

Maple Curiosity’s 2027 EI premium rate breakdown explains the new employee rate and maximum annual contribution.

The labour market matters too

How useful EI becomes depends partly on how quickly someone can find another job.

That can vary significantly by province and occupation.

Maple Curiosity’s Alberta Job Vacancies 2026 analysis looks at recent labour demand in Alberta.

Workers considering retraining may also want to review the new skilled-trades supports and Red Seal training incentives.

What should workers check now?

If your employment has recently ended, confirm the date your EI claim begins and submit your application promptly.

If you received severance, vacation pay or pay in lieu of notice, report it accurately rather than assuming it will or will not affect your claim.

Long-tenured workers should also check whether their claim falls within the temporary window and whether the additional weeks have been added.

The key update is that the earlier October 10, 2026 cutoff is no longer the end of the main temporary EI supports. Several measures now continue into 2027, and the new most-recent-separation rule applies to claims starting October 11, 2026.