Adjunct Instructors and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit
Hello Faculty Colleagues:
I’ve received several e-mails from Adjunct Instructors who have contracts extending to June 30 and beyond but do not have any classes scheduled, because of the COVID-19 event, and therefore, no income.
If that is the case, you would likely be eligible for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) – a new benefit announced by the Federal Government. The CERB has been integrated with Employment Insurance which allows people to apply for benefits through a single window.
To qualify, you must have had $5,000 in employment income, self-employment income, Maternity or parental leave benefits for 2019 or in the 12 month period preceding the date of application.
The CERB will pay out $2,000 per 4 week period for up to 16 weeks, backdated to March 15. The benefit is available March 15 to October 3, 2020. The benefit is not taxed at source but will have to be reported on your 2020 taxes. Any income from employment will not be “clawed back”, but if you earn more than $1,000 per 4 week period while receiving CERB benefits, you may not be eligible to apply for the next four week block of benefits.
For information about the CERB, please visit this site:
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/apply-for-cerb-with-cra.html
If you decide to apply for the CERB, you may do so by following this link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application.html
I received an email from an Adjunct Instructor who has started the application process and I’ll pass along her experience:
“After answering the “employee” or “self-employed” question at the bottom of this page, you answer a couple other short questions and are instructed to apply for CERB through either EI or CRA.
Based on my experience applying last week….if an individual has enough insurable hours to qualify for EI, they’ll be guided to apply for CERB through EI, and if they don’t have enough hours they’ll be guided to apply through CRA. It seems like you get the same benefit of $2000/month either way. Even if regular EI benefits would be more than $2000, everyone is transferred onto CERB.”
I don’t believe you need your Record of Employment in order to apply for the CERB, but if you do or if you want your RoE, I’ve contacted SAIT Employee Services and received the response that Adjunct Instructors may request an RoE by emailing SAIT at [email protected].
This month we will be meeting with SAIT to commence bargaining with SAIT for the renewal of our Collective Agreement. We have an Adjunct Instructor on our bargaining team and we will use this opportunity to begin to improve terms and conditions of employment at SAIT for all Adjunct Instructors – this is our primary focus for this round of collective bargaining.
During this time of uncertainty, I encourage Faculty to utilize the available free counselling services of the Employee Family Assistance Program (Lifeworks) – 1-844-671-3327, which is available 24/7.
And, as always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
In Solidarity and Service to Members,