COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t always been easy.London, Ont., resident Erin Birtwistle is no stranger to that challenge.She lost her job in retail at the onset of the pandemic last spring and has been on Employment Insurance (EI) since the fall after moving off the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).But Birtwistle, a mother of two, declared on her EI statement in January that she wasn’t available to work for two weeks because she was the only person able to take care of her five-year-old daughter when schools in London were temporarily closed.
Repaid CERB wrongly listed as taxable income on some tax slips, CRA says That meant she was no longer eligible for EI – which requires the applicant to be available to work – and instead was banking.