EI claimants are going weeks without income as federal call system slows to a crawl | CBC News
There were times this month when Miranda Petrossi and her
boyfriend were working four phones at once — calling Service Canada’s
employment insurance information line over and over, for hours on end,
desperately trying to find someone who could tell her why her EI
application had been denied after she lost her job due to the pandemic.
boyfriend were working four phones at once — calling Service Canada’s
employment insurance information line over and over, for hours on end,
desperately trying to find someone who could tell her why her EI
application had been denied after she lost her job due to the pandemic.
Petrossi
is one of many Canadians who have gone weeks without benefits because
of problems with their EI applications — problems they’re struggling to
sort out now because they can’t get anyone on the phone.
“I
haven’t had a paycheque since March 15,” said Petrossi, who worked as an
early childhood educator for the YMCA in Oakville, Ont., until COVID-19
shut it down. “I potentially may not have a job until September and I
don’t know how much longer I can continue going like this.”