Human Resources committee  On March 20 of this year, we enhanced the program by including amounts for job separation. The refunded amount can cover up to four weeks. The centre of excellence has been in operation for at least a year, but I do not remember the exact date when the program started up. I will have to send you that information.

Human Resources committee  The amount provided, on average?

Human Resources committee  Yes. It was done in March 2009.

Human Resources committee  We had regulations that were clear about the need for employers to provide a copy of the electronic record of employment to the employee. This meant that employers were sending the records of employment, the information, electronically to the department, but they also needed to provide a paper copy to the employee.

Human Resources committee  --allow employers to not have to give a paper copy to the employee when they submit electronically to the department.

Human Resources committee  For work sharing, yes, absolutely. Again, before we were allowed the changes in the regulations in the spring for work sharing, each and every client receiving employment insurance benefits had to report on the small report card for the questions, and they needed the signature of the employer as well.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for your question. First of all, the bulk of the money from the $60 million went to regional processing. Out of the $60 million, there was $50 million directly related to regional processing. We covered a number of fronts. For regional processing we first hired over 900 staff to help with the processing of the applications and over 100 staff in the call centres and in the in-person environment to support the people who are applying for EI benefits or who have questions on their EI benefits.

Human Resources committee  We continue monitoring the situation very closely. We cover at least three fronts in that area. First, wherever we can simplify and automate processes so that we can pay clients faster, we do, so there is a continuous improvement exercise going on. We review our processes and simplify, and we report on a biweekly basis.

Human Resources committee  I guess there are two issues we would need to clarify related to a person getting a pension plan. One is that we would consider the earnings from that pension plan. If it's on a monthly basis, we would allocate it on a weekly—

Human Resources committee  You wouldn't have to wait, because it's not part of moneys on separation that we allocate. You would get that money on a regular basis for as long as you live; however—

Human Resources committee  Oh, as a lump sum. If it is as a lump sum and is considered as moneys on separation, yes, we would allocate the money. However, when we allocate the money, we also extend the EI benefit period.

Human Resources committee  Most of the examples you have given reflect situations where the documentation required to verify eligibility is provided in advance. As regards employment insurance benefits, two documents are extremely important in order to verify benefit eligibility. First of all, there is the actual application made by the individual, and then there is the record of employment provided by the employer, which allows us to determine two important things.

Human Resources committee  We are talking about 24 calendar days.

Human Resources committee  Yes, it was in February.

Human Resources committee  Then we saw that it would not be sufficient and that we would need to hire additional staff.