Wage-Earner Protection Program Needs Your Feedback!

The Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP) provides financial support to Canadian workers, under federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions, who are owed money when their employer files for bankruptcy or becomes subject to a receivership. The federal government has opened a consultation process about the development of regulations that would support recent legislative changes made to the Wage Earner Protection Program Act. Deadline for responses is June 28. For more information on how you or your members can participate in the consultations, click here.

The WEPP provides timely payment of eligible wages, up to an amount equaling four weeks maximum insurable earnings under the Employment Insurance Act ($3,977 for 2018). The government is now moving forward on its Budget 2018 commitment by increasing the maximum payment from four weeks to seven weeks of insurable earnings, which will total $6,960 in 2018; this will amount to an increase of close to $3,000.

The increase to the maximum payment came into force on Royal Assent (December 13, 2018), and applies retroactively to bankruptcies or receiverships that occurred on or after Feb. 27, 2018, the day the budget was tabled. Currently, approximately 46% of recipients are still owed money after receiving WEPP payments. Under this increase, it is expected that this will drop to 32%, and will increase the number of applicants that are fully compensated for eligible wages by approximately 1,600 per year on average.