Service Canada chooses fudging production figures over service to EI clients—again

Service Canada management in Ontario is ordering staff that process Employment Insurance files to temporarily cease work on claims over 28 days old, casting aside claimants waiting longest in favour of those who have filed more recent claims.

The move by Service Canada is about fudging the department’s “speed of payment” figures. Processing claims before they are over 28 days old is given priority over dealing with claims that are already past the 28-day mark, a practice that hurts those claimants who have waited the longest. This is a perverse outcome and not one that any Canadian wants from their government.

“Telling a laid off worker who has waited six weeks for a first EI cheque that he is less of a priority than one who has waited only three is unacceptable and everyone knows it” said CEIU National President Jeannette Meunier-McKay, “and for our members, this is not the quality of service they want to deliver.”

Service Canada has already been caught putting production numbers ahead of the needs of the unemployed. In September 2006, the union exposed the very same practice.

The root cause of the problem is staffing levels. “There are not enough staff available to deal with the workload and overtime work is just not a solution” said Meunier-McKay, “but the government is trying to squeeze $2.5 billion in savings out of Service Canada rather than provide the level of service it promised Canadians.”

In the meantime, the message to those waiting longest for their first EI payment is ‘tough luck for you’, but Canadians are not likely see this reflected in the light-hearted TV commercials run by Service Canada.