Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles   Chapter 11 - Section 4

11.4.0 A specific condition for the minor attachment claimant

A minor attachment claimant, namely one who has been employed in insurable employment for fewer than 600 hours in their qualifying period ^{Footnote 1} , may have a benefit period established and fulfill the two entitlement conditions to sickness benefits without necessarily being allowed to receive such benefits.

The following extract of the Act ^{Footnote 2} provides a specific condition for the minor attachment claimant:

A minor attachment claimant who ceases work because of illness, injury or quarantine is not entitled to receive benefits while unable to work for that reason.

This provision obviously does not apply if the minor attachment claimant qualifies for regular benefits when the inability occurred and the reason the claimant stopped working was not because of illness, injury or quarantine. This also means that individuals who are unemployed and already receiving EI benefits can apply and may be entitled to sickness benefits.

A minor attachment claimant who, due to the inability to work, is unable to participate in an employment activity to which he or she had been referred by the authority designated by the Commission, will not be disentitled because he or she could not or no longer participate in the activity for that reason. In that case had the claimant not agreed initially to participate in such an activity, he or she would be entitled to receive sickness benefits.

This provision does not affect a minor attachment claimant whose inability prevents the carrying out of activities as a self-employed person or from engaging in the operation of a business on his or her own account or in partnership or a co-adventure. It implies a separation from employment based on an employer-employee relationship that does not exist in such cases.