Section 8 — Employment Insurance Act: Qualifying period

Subject to subsections (2) to (7), the qualifying period of an insured person is the shorter of the 52-week period immediately before the beginning of a benefit period under subsection 10(1), and the period that begins on the first day of an immediately preceding benefit period and ends with the end of the week before the beginning of a benefit period under subsection 10(1). A qualifying period mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) is extended by the aggregate of any weeks during the qualifying period for which the person proves, in such manner as the Commission may direct, that throughout the week the person was not employed in insurable employment because the person was incapable of work because of a prescribed illness, injury, quarantine or pregnancy; confined in a jail, penitentiary or other similar institution and was not found guilty of the offence for which the person was being held or any other offence arising out of the same transaction; receiving assistance under an employment support measure other than one referred to in paragraph 59(c) or (d); or receiving payments under a provincial law on the basis of having ceased to work because continuing to work would have resulted in danger to the person, her unborn child or a child whom she was breast-feeding. [Repealed, 2021, c. 23, s. 305] A qualifying period is further extended by the aggregate of any weeks during an extension for which the person proves, in any manner that the Commission may direct, that the person was not employed in insurable employment because of a reason specified in subsection (2). For the purposes of subsections (2) and (4), a week during which the person was in receipt of benefits does not count. [Repealed, 2021, c. 23, s. 305] No extension under subsection (2) or (4) may result in a qualifying period of more than 104 weeks.