COVID-19 Update - Employers Cannot Use SUB Plan To Top-Up CERB

One of the most common questions we have received from employers since the introduction of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit ("CERB") is whether they can top-up the CERB through a Supplemental Unemployment Benefit ("SUB") Plan as is common with regular EI Benefits. Although there has been much speculation on this point from practitioners in the field, until now the answer to this question has frustratingly been "we just don't know."

The purpose of a SUB Plan is to provide supplemental payments to EI Benefits during a period of unemployment due to: temporary stoppage of work; training; illness, injury or quarantine. These payments are not deducted from the employee's benefits, nor are they considered insurable earnings under the Employment Insurance Act (which means EI premiums are not deducted). For further information on SUB Plans, see our blog here.