Here are some of the most common reasons why people do not receive their EI payments.

1. You have reached the end of your claim entitlement weeks, which means you have received all the benefits weeks you were entitled to. You may verify this information by login into your My Service Canada Account. If you still indicated that you still have benefit weeks left but it has reached the expiration dates of your claim, you will still not be paid EI benefits.
2. You did not complete your EI online report. Your EI payment will only come out when a report is received.
3. You have separation monies paid to you (e.g. vacation pay, severance pay, bonus, etc). The total separation monies must be deducted first before your benefits kick in. You may find the separation amount in your My Service Canada Account.
4. You have completed your first waiting period report, therefore you don’t get paid for the first week of the bi-weekly report.
5. There is a delay in your claim. In this situation, you must call EI call centre to follow up promptly or else it may be delayed further. There is always a processing delay after the December holiday break or summer break. In this case, you must make sure to call EI call centre to chase after the status of your claim.
6. Your claim entitlement weeks have run out. Each EI claimant is qualified for a certain amount of entitlement weeks within the 1 year claim expiry. Your claim will run out either at the end of your entitlement weeks or your claim’s 1 year expiry.
7. You have not attended the EI Claimant Information Session. Periodically, EI claimant will be invited to join the Claimant Info Session. Attendance is mandatory, therefore if you did not attend your session, your claim will be cut off until you attended.
8. You did not submit your ROE to Service Canada and EI processing is unable to finalize your claim.
9. The employer indicates a message in the comment block (Box 18). When there is a message in the comment box, it will force the system to find an EI agent to review your claim.
10. You have reached beyond your maximum 15 weeks of sickness benefits payment or your doctor’s note recovery day does not meet the 15 weeks length.
11. Service Canada integrity office audit. You should call EI call centre to find out why.

If you have further claim-specific questions about your EI claim, you must call EI call centre directly for assistance. You may contact us if you have a general question.