EI..EI..Ohh

I am not sure how other people do it but this whole EI thing is crazy!

My office does not have short term disability and since it was highly recommended <and enforced by my oncologist and surgeon> to not work during the chemo and radiation process, I agreed to take the time off. To be honest, my surgeon was willing to sign me off after my surgery. But let's face it, I am not a good stay at home person so the 6 months I was taking off would be more than enough for me.

So I worked up until my first day of chemo which happen to fall on a Wednesday. So on Wednesday morning I filed my EI report and dropped off the necessary paperwork to a local office. I was told with an illness/injury claim the waiting period was 28 days. 28 DAYS! I at least knew my last day for awhile and had time to prepare/save..but if you injure yourself tomorrow and live pay cheque to pay cheque what then?

I was also told that the benefits would only last for 15 weeks..so me taking 6 months didn't exactly add up. My work does have long term disability but I figured that the difference in the time between EI ending and me going back to work wasn't worth the hassle of applying for it. Apparently <only from what I hear> that insurance for LT disability is not easy to get and takes several months of "fighting" to prove you are sick. At this time I think of people with terminal cancer or people with families and think ...Yikes what resources do they have! This could financially ruin people.

My work insurance does have a critical illness clause which I didn't know about until they told me. It is a percentage of your salary that you get as a one time payment. The process does not begin until 90 days after your diagnosis and will not be paid out until after your EI claim ends but it is nice to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I am also thankful that I am on B's medical insurance. While my medications are not obscene (about $100-$150 per month) I am glad that I only have to pay the filling fee, as this is an expense which I do not need to pay while I am in the "waiting period" of EI.

So I waited about 3 weeks and received my password to login and file a report online. I did this honestly and told them that while my employer put down that my last day worked was the 18th they paid me for the additional three days in the pay period. After I spent the next 20 minutes filling out the initial report it kicked me out and told me my report was not complete and to call a 1-800 number. When I did I was "helped" by a very rude person with no common sense. < I would have peed in his cornflakes too!>

First he told me that my first problem was that I worked 2 days and I need to have 5 consecutive days where I am sick. So I asked "Are you telling me I need to be sick on a Friday as opposed to a Tuesday?" This made no sense to me...and he replied yes??? First scolding for actually working as I should have played hooky. He also told me that I would need to have my ROE adjusted as my work put down my last day for which I was paid was incorrect. I asked if he could adjust this on his end as it was noted in the boxes below that they had paid me for a full week but had made a slight error in one box. His question was "Why would your employer pay you for a full week when you only worked two days"..which I responded "because they are nice and care about me". Apparently, to him this was in the realm of nonexistent. He wanted me to call and ask my employer if they had indeed paid me for a full week...URGH why would I lie?? I hung up the phone fuming.

I waited 5 minutes and called back. Luckily I got someone who was VERY helpful and just moved my start date back a couple of days and common sense actually did not elude him. He made a couple of quick adjustments to my claim and I had to go back in the following week to complete a one week report but all was good. So all I had to do now was sit and wait another 3 weeks to be paid. This is where our system is messed up. If you are legit sick you get 15 weeks but if you don't feel like working after you have been laid off you can take your full 52 weeks...what am I missing here? Apparently sanity.