Work during a temporary layoff

Inviting employees to work briefly during a temporary layoff

Your employer may invite you to come to work during your temporary layoff, regardless of the type of temporary layoff. This will briefly suspend your temporary layoff. If you work full days for your own employer during a full-time temporary layoff, you will be paid a full daily allowance for the temporary layoff days and no daily allowance for the working days.

If you are on a full-time temporary layoff or on shortened weekly working hours, your employer may also invite you to work part-time. In this case, your temporary layoff will be converted into shortened daily working hours, and your daily allowance will be adjusted. Depending on the type of layoff, wages paid and working hours are taken into account either at the time of the work or at the time of the salary payment.

Working for another employer during a temporary layoff

You are allowed to work for another employer during a temporary layoff. If you are on a full-time temporary layoff or on shortened weekly working hours, your full daily allowance will be converted into an adjusted daily allowance.

If during a temporary layoff you work for another employer full-time for more than 2 weeks, you will be paid a daily allowance until the beginning of such employment and again from the end of such employment.

Working hours restrictions during a temporary layoff

You may be paid a daily allowance if your working hours do not exceed 80% of the working hours of a full-time employee in any 1 calendar week. Under unemployment security, the limit for full-time employment is defined as 80% of the maximum working hours for any given sector. If this limit is exceeded, no daily allowance is paid. With temporary layoffs, working hours are reviewed on a calendar week basis (Monday to Sunday).

If you exceed the aforementioned working hours limit in any given calendar week, this will not affect payment of your daily allowances in any other week; every week is considered separately.

If you work both for your own employer and for other employers during a temporary layoff, your combined working hours for all employees are considered for each calendar week.

Accrual of employment condition and calculating the daily allowance during temporary layoffs

The same rules apply to the accrual of the employment condition and the calculation of daily allowances regardless of whether you are temporarily laid off or completely unemployed. Weeks in which you are in paid employment for at least 18 hours per calendar week count towards the employment condition.