Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB)

Status: Closed

The Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB) gave temporary income support to employed and self-employed people who could not work due to a COVID-19 lockdown.

The CWLB was only available when a COVID-19 lockdown order was designated for your region. If you were eligible for the CWLB, you could have received $300 ($270 after taxes withheld) for each 1-week period.

The CWLB was available for designated regions between October 24, 2021 and May 7, 2022. The last day to apply was May 18, 2022.

On this page

• Eligibility criteria
• Verifying your eligibility
• If you need to repay

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the CWLB payments, you must have met all the following conditions:

• You resided in Canada
  Definition

  You lived and had a home in Canada, but did not have to be a citizen or a permanent resident.

• You were present in Canada
• You were at least 15 years old
• You had a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN)
• You did not receive any of the following for the same period:
  • Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
  • Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)
  • Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB)
  • Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP)
  • short-term disability benefits
• You earned at least $5,000 in 2020, 2021, or in the 12 months before the date you applied from any of the following sources:
  • employment income (total or gross pay)
  • net self-employment income (after deducting expenses)
  • maternity and parental benefits from EI or similar QPIP benefits
  • EI regular, special, or fishing benefits
  • amounts from these COVID-19 benefits:
    • Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)
    • Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB)
    • Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB)
    • Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)
  What counts towards the $5,000

  Counts as income:

  • All employment or self-employment income, including:
    • tips
    • non-eligible dividends
    • honoraria (nominal amounts paid to volunteers)
    • royalties (payments to artists)

  Does not count as income:

  • disability benefits
  • student loans, bursaries or scholarships
  • social assistance or family support payments
  • Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Québec Pension Plan (QPP), or other pension income
  • Old Age Security (OAS) payments
  • Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB)
• You filed a 2020 tax return
• A region where you lived, worked, or provided a service was designated as a COVID-19 lockdown region
  Check which weeks were eligible in your region (opens in new window)
• A designated COVID-19 lockdown in your region resulted in one of the following:
  • you lost your job and were unemployed
  • you were self-employed but unable to continue your work
  • you were employed or self-employed, but had a 50% reduction in your average weekly income as compared to the previous year
    Calculate your income reduction (opens in new window)
• You did not do any of the following, unless it was reasonable to do so:
  • quit your job
  • voluntarily stop working
  • turn down reasonable work
  • refuse to return to work when asked by your employer
  • fail to resume self-employment when it was possible
  Choosing not to work from home

  If you were able to work from home (telework), you were not eligible for the CWLB

• You got the COVID-19 vaccine or it was not required to continue your work
• You were not self-isolating or in quarantine due to international travel
  Exceptions

  This did not apply to you if you were isolating because:

  • you travelled for medical treatment certified by a medical practitioner
  • you accompanied a person who is not able to travel without help from an attendant to get medical treatment certified by a medical practitioner
  • you travelled for work that is normally exempt from quarantine when you returned to Canada, but the lockdown order required you to self-isolate

• You must file your 2021 and 2022 tax returns by December 31, 2023 if you received the benefit for a period starting in 2022

  If you received the benefit for a period starting in 2021, you must file your 2021 tax return by December 31, 2022

If you did not meet the above criteria, you were not eligible for the CWLB.

Find out how to repay the CWLB.

You met the criteria

If you met all of the criteria, you could have received $300 ($270 after taxes withheld) for each 1-week period.

The CRA may ask you for additional information if your application needs further validation.

Period dates for designated regions

Designated COVID-19 lockdown regions were only eligible for specific weeks.

For details: Check which weeks were eligible in your region

Verifying your eligibility

The CRA will verify that you were eligible to receive the CWLB. We may ask you to provide additional details to validate your application.

Individuals who are found to have intentionally made fraudulent claims may face consequences.

To report any suspected misuse: CRA's Leads program

If you need to repay

If you received any benefit payments that you were not eligible for, the CRA will contact you to make arrangements to repay.

For details: Repay COVID-19 benefits