The final pay for this term is December 31st. This date is later than usual, but the first pay was also later than usual. It is a simple reflection of the calendar and McMaster’s bi-weekly pay schedule. This final pay on December 31st represents what Service Canada refers to as an ‘interruption of earnings’  and should be the date you list on your EI application as the last pay date (not the date for which you were last paid). The ‘day for which you were last paid’  and your ‘last day worked’  should be listed as December 24th.  We would encourage all Sessionals who may utilize Employment Insurance at any point in 2022 to apply after December 31st, even if you are employed during the Winter term.

The first pay in the Winter term, for those of you who are employed, will be on January 28th and the first day of work will be January 9th. This means you should be able to collect EI from January 1st to January 8th if you have enough insurable hours. For information on EI, click here. If you have already served a withholding period in the past 52 weeks, you will be able to collect EI as of January 1st. If you have not served a withholding period, you can serve one week over the holidays and should be able to collect EI for a day or two. However, you will have served the one-week waiting period, which means you won’t need to do so again in the spring.

In certain instances, it is possible to both work and collect EI (with some clawbacks) if the amount of work have in the winter has dropped substantially from the work you had during the fall term. More information is available here.

We are told that your ROE will be issued in advance of December 31st.