Let's go back to the time before the CERB came on stream. Many big companies were forced to scale back their activities, so they pointed their employees toward employment insurance. To maintain their buying power, they set up supplemental unemployment benefit agreements, or SUBs. Instead of getting 55% of their salary, workers can collect about 80% of their salary thanks to employer-funded supplemental unemployment benefits.
Then, out of the blue, despite agreements the government had with companies, it automatically converted employment insurance into emergency benefits without even telling them. It has said nothing at all about SUB agreements. I think the government forgot about them. Without clear instructions, companies chose to hold up their end of the bargain and kept paying their employees the SUB, as agreed. Now thousands of workers have to repay their emergency benefits.
That was the only point the president of Unifor raised when he appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance. Thousands of employees with many big companies are dealing with this problem. Workers have to repay the benefits. Why? Because, in many cases, their SUB exceeds $1,000, disqualifying them from the Canadian emergency response benefit.
What is the government going to do about this?