{"id":46537,"date":"2015-06-17T18:10:33","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T22:10:33","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:31:33","slug":"how-do-i-qualify-these-ei-benefits","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-do-i-qualify-these-ei-benefits","title":{"rendered":"How do I qualify for these EI benefits?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Usually, you need to have worked at least 600 hours in the last 12 months. In some cases, you can count work hours from more than 12 months ago.<\/p>\n<p>Any hours you were on paid leave count as hours worked.<\/p>\n<p>If you got a violation for breaking EI rules any time in the past 5 years, you may need <strong>more than 600 hours<\/strong>. The exact number of hours that you need depends on how serious the violation is.<\/p>\n<p>A violation is a penalty Service Canada gives you if you tell them something related to your EI claim that you know is <strong>not<\/strong> true or accurate.<\/p>\n<h2>If you made an EI claim in the last 12 months<\/h2>\n<p>If you made a claim for any kind of EI benefits in the last 12 months, you have 2 options:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0You can start a new EI claim. To do this, you must have worked 600 hours in the time since your past benefits started. If you got a violation for breaking EI rules in the past 5 years, you may need more than 600 hours.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0You can renew your earlier EI claim. You do not have to work any more hours to renew your claim. If you got EI regular benefits in the last 12 months, you might not be able to get the full number of weeks of maternity or parental benefits.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"left-line\">\n<p><strong>Example<\/strong>: You applied for EI regular benefits on June 1, 2025. You plan to start getting parental benefits on December 7, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>If you worked 600 hours between June 1 and December 6, 2025, you can start a new claim for EI parental benefits.<\/p>\n<p>If you worked less than 600 hours in this period, you cannot start a new EI claim on December 7, 2025. Instead, you can renew your earlier EI claim. But you might not be able to receive the maximum number of weeks of parental<br \/>\nbenefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-46537","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How do I qualify for these EI benefits? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-do-i-qualify-these-ei-benefits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do I qualify for these EI benefits? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Usually, you need to have worked at least 600 hours in the last 12 months. 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