This case is about access to economic supports for women.
LEAF is intervening before the Federal Court of Appeal.
FACTS
To help improve access to EI during the pandemic, the federal government automatically applied a one-time hours credit to all EI applications – even if a worker had reached the number of hours needed to qualify. Ms. Lotsberg had this credit applied when she lost her job as a server and applied for EI, even though she didn’t need it. She later returned to work, but worked fewer hours than usual because of the ongoing effects of the pandemic. When she gave birth, the Canada EI Commission denied her application for maternity and parental EI benefits, saying she had not worked enough hours and had already used the one-time hours credit – despite not needing it at the time. Ms. Lotsberg argued that the structure of the temporary hours credit violated her equality rights under s. 15 of the Charter.
The general division of the Social Security Tribunal (SST) agreed with Ms. Lotsberg, but the appeal division allowed the government’s appeal. Ms. Lotsberg has appealed to the Federal Court of Canada.
ARGUMENTS
LEAF will emphasize that governments cannot discriminate even in the context of complex benefits systems. Even where benefits help some members of a group, limiting access to that benefit can disproportionately impact and disadvantage other members of the group. The Court needs to focus on how the limitation at issue impacts the affected groups. LEAF will also argue that the Court can consider the legislative context of the benefits scheme to understand the impact of the limitation, but it is not a magic formula to shield benefits programs from constitutional examination.
OUTCOME
The Federal Court of Appeal has not yet scheduled a hearing in this case.
Read LEAF’s factum.
LEAF is grateful to be represented by Alyssa Holland, Marion Sandilands, and Logan Stack (Conway Litigation) in this case.
LEAF’s interventions are guided, informed, and supported by a case committee with expertise in the relevant issues. We are grateful to this intervention’s case committee members (in alphabetical order): Gillian Calder, Nabila Qureshi, and Margot Young.
