The Fellowship has registered a Supplementary Unemployment Benefit (SUB) Plan with Employment and Social Development Canada. The plan is open to all Fellowship churches: however, your church must register before it will be allowed to participate in the plan.
The Supplementary Unemployment Benefit Plan allows the church to “top up” employment insurance sick plan benefits that the employee may be entitled to if they are unable to work as a result of illness, injury, or quarantine without reducing future employment insurance payments. Normally, any payment made to an employee while receiving employment insurance sick benefits, would cause a reduction in future employment insurance payments.
Under the Supplementary Unemployment Insurance plan provision the employer is allowed to make payments to the employee while receiving employment insurance sick benefits, without reducing the payments made by employment insurance. For the employer to make these payments, a church would first have to agree to provide the benefits outlined in the Supplementary Unemployment Insurance Benefit Plan registered by the Fellowship with Employment and Social Development Canada, and secondly, to notify the Fellowship of your desire so that we could register you with Employment and Social Development Canada.
The following are some highlights of the elements of the Plan:
- Any church, which has been received into membership of the Fellowship, may participate in the Plan. Although the Plan is designed to complement the Long-Term Disability benefit available under the Fellowship Group Benefit Plan, participation in the Fellowship Group Benefit Plan is not required for your participation in the Supplementary Unemployment Insurance Benefit Plan.
- The church must agree to pay the difference between the benefit available under the Unemployment Insurance Sick Plan benefit provision, and 95% of the employee’s regular weekly earnings. In most situations this would mean that the maximum cost to the church would be to provide 95% of the employee’s regular weekly earnings for the first two weeks and about 40% of the employee’s regular weekly earnings for the next 15 weeks (should the illness last that long). If an employee earns more than the Employment Insurance maximum the church’s cost would be higher.
- The only time the church would incur a cost for this benefit would be in the event that an employee was unable to work and qualified for the sick benefit available under Employment Insurance.
- To provide a benefit under the Supplementary Unemployment Benefit Plan the church would have to be registered prior to an employee becoming unable to work and qualifying for the sick benefit available under Employment Insurance.
- When registered under the Plan the payments from the church do not reduce the payment available under the Employment Insurance Plan.
We are convinced that the Supplementary Unemployment Benefit Plan is a good way to assist an employee in the event of illness while maintaining the cost to the church at a reasonable and affordable level.
To enrol for participation in the Plan it will be necessary for the church to agree to the terms of the Supplementary Unemployment Benefit plan and to forward the church’s Business Number to the Fellowship Ministry Centre by completing the following Supplementary Unemployment Benefit Plan Response Form.
For further information, please visit Human Resources and Social Development Canada site.
Click here to complete the Supplementary UI Application Form.