Toronto, September 22, 2026 – The Federal Court of Appeal has granted the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) leave to intervene in Lotsberg v. Attorney General of Canada, an upcoming case about unequal access to Employment Insurance (EI) benefits for women during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
“The design of the temporary hours credit left Ms. Lotsberg with a newborn, a year-long wait for daycare, and no support from EI,” says Kat Owens, LEAF Legal Director. “There was a straightforward solution: let her and other new mothers apply the hours credit to their maternity and parental benefits claims.”
Women, especially pregnant women and those with young children, faced significant negative economic outcomes during the pandemic. They experienced greater job losses, worked fewer hours, and took longer to return to work. When schools and daycares were closed, women took on greater childcare responsibilities.
“New mothers have enough on their plate without having to deal with the stress of being denied maternity and parental benefits,” says Owens. “The temporary hours credit needed to accommodate women’s caregiving responsibilities along with their workforce participation.”
LEAF will be intervening to assist the Court in its consideration of whether the design of the temporary hours credit violated the equality rights of women like Ms. Lotsberg. We will emphasize that governments cannot discriminate even in the context of complex benefits systems like EI.
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.
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
About the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit and charity that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has been involved in over 145 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
