EI Sickness Benefits in Canada: How Long They Last, What They Pay, and the Medical Certificate Rules

EI sickness benefits pay 55% of insurable earnings, up to $729 a week in 2026, for as long as 26 weeks on a claim established on or after December 18, 2022, a limit that replaced the older 15 week maximum still seen in outdated material.

Information last verified on 2026-08-17. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article covers the federal Employment Insurance sickness benefit under the Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23, and its regulations, administered by Service Canada. It does not restate the full comparison between EI and provincial job protected leave, which EI Benefits vs. Job-Protected Leave in Canada already covers, and it does not restate provincial sick leave rules, which Sick Leave and Medical Notes in Canada covers. This page goes deeper into the mechanics specific to the sickness benefit itself: how long it lasts, what triggers it, the waiting period, and the medical certificate.

How Long EI Sickness Benefits Last, and the Date That Matters

EI sickness benefits currently pay for up to 26 weeks. EI Act s.12(3)(c) sets that ceiling directly:

"The maximum number of weeks for which benefits may be paid in a benefit period ... because of a prescribed illness, injury or quarantine is 26." (Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23, s.12(3)(c))

That 26 week figure only applies to a claim established on or after December 18, 2022. Before that date, the maximum was 15 weeks. Employment and Social Development Canada's own announcement of the change confirms the cutoff directly:

"Individuals who qualify and establish a new claim on or after December 18, 2022, will be able to receive up to 26 weeks of EI sickness benefits." (Employment and Social Development Canada, Nov. 25, 2022)

By implication, that left claims established earlier at the prior 15 week cap. If you are reading older material, or comparing a claim that straddles that date, the 15 week figure is not simply wrong, it describes a rule that applied before the increase took effect. For any claim started in 2026, 26 weeks is the current ceiling.

How Much EI Sickness Benefits Pay in 2026

The benefit rate is 55% of insurable earnings, subject to a weekly maximum. For 2026, canada.ca states that maximum amount as $729 a week. That figure is built from 2026 maximum insurable earnings (MIE) of $68,900, confirmed separately through the Canada Employment Insurance Commission's 2026 premium rate announcement. The two figures line up: 55% of $68,900 divided across the year works out to roughly the $729 weekly maximum. Most claimants receive less than that maximum, since the amount actually paid depends on each claimant's own insurable earnings, not a flat rate everyone gets.

The One Week Waiting Period

Before benefits are paid, a claimant has to serve a waiting period. EI Act s.13 states the general rule:

"A claimant is not entitled to be paid benefits in a benefit period until, after the beginning of the benefit period, the claimant has served a waiting period of one week of unemployment for which benefits would otherwise be payable." (Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23, s.13)

This is not a sickness specific rule. It is the general waiting period that applies across EI benefit periods, and it applies to a sickness claim the same way it applies to any other claim type. Whether a waiver exists for someone who already served a waiting period earlier in the same benefit period, for example a claimant moving from regular benefits into sickness benefits, was not confirmed for this article. If that situation applies to you, ask Service Canada directly rather than assuming either outcome.

Qualifying: 600 Insurable Hours

Canada.ca states the qualifying threshold plainly: 600 insured hours of work in the 52 weeks before the start of your claim. This is a flat threshold, unlike the sliding, regionally adjusted hour requirement that applies to regular EI benefits. The Employment Insurance Act codifies it through two linked provisions. Section 6(1) defines a major attachment claimant as "a claimant who qualifies to receive benefits and has 600 or more hours of insurable employment," and section 21(1) states:

"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." (Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23, s.21(1))

A minor attachment claimant is, under the Act's paired definitions, a claimant who falls below the 600 hour major attachment threshold, so s.6(1) and s.21(1) together are what turn canada.ca's 600 hour figure into a codified qualifying rule for sickness benefits.

The Interruption of Earnings Trigger for Illness

A sickness claim depends on having an interruption of earnings, the same concept that requires an employer to issue a Record of Employment. Most people picture an interruption of earnings as something that follows a layoff or a quit, but illness has its own trigger that does not require either. EI Regulations s.14(2) creates a separate rule:

"An interruption of earnings from an employment occurs in respect of an insured person at the beginning of a week in which a reduction in earnings that is more than 40% of the insured person's normal weekly earnings occurs because the insured person ceases to work in that employment by reason of illness, injury or quarantine..." (EI Regulations, s.14(2))

The subsection continues past "quarantine" to also cover pregnancy and certain family and critical illness caregiving situations under the same 40% threshold; the illness, injury, and quarantine branch quoted above is the one that feeds a sickness claim specifically. Nothing in that branch requires the job to end. Someone who is still employed, but whose pay has dropped by more than 40% because they stopped working due to illness, injury, or quarantine, meets this trigger on its own. That is the same rule an employer relies on when issuing an ROE with reason code D, for illness or injury. For the deadline an employer has to actually issue that ROE, and what the rest of its codes mean, see Record of Employment Explained.

The Medical Certificate: Who Can Sign It, and What Form It Takes

A medical certificate is required to support a sickness claim, but the source of a common misconception is the assumption that it must be a specific government form. Canada.ca states that applicants may use Service Canada's own certificate form, or a certificate on their practitioner's own letterhead or form, as long as it is legible, carries the practitioner's information, and states the start date and expected duration of the incapacity where known.

The certificate has to be signed by an eligible practitioner. Based on canada.ca's list, that includes a medical doctor, a chiropractor, a podiatrist, an optometrist, a psychologist, a dentist, a midwife, other than in Prince Edward Island, a nurse practitioner, or, in an isolated area where a doctor is not available, a registered nurse. For a claim based on quarantine specifically, a representative of the Public Health Agency of Canada or a provincial or territorial health authority can also sign the certificate. This article does not attempt a complete, permanently current list of eligible practitioners or exact form requirements; check canada.ca directly for the current list before assuming a specific practitioner qualifies.

What This Article Does Not Confirm

A few practical questions come up constantly around EI sickness benefits, and this article deliberately does not answer them with specifics, because the sources reviewed did not confirm the details:

• Working while on a sickness claim. EI has a general working while on claim program that lets many claimants keep part of their benefit while earning some income. Whether that general regime applies to a sickness claim without modification, or has sickness specific limits, was not confirmed for this article. Check canada.ca's sickness specific guidance, or ask Service Canada directly, before assuming the general rule applies unchanged.
• Coordinating with an employer's own sick leave or short term disability plan. Nothing reviewed for this article requires exhausting an employer plan before claiming EI sickness benefits, but employer paid short term disability commonly runs alongside or instead of EI sickness benefits in practice. How your own plan coordinates with EI depends entirely on that plan's own terms.

Job Protection Is a Separate Question

EI sickness benefits are a federal income replacement program. They are not the same as having your job protected while you are away, which is a provincial employment standards question, or federal for a federally regulated employer. EI Benefits vs. Job-Protected Leave in Canada explains how those two systems run on separate clocks, and Sick Leave and Medical Notes in Canada covers what your province requires for job protected sick leave itself, separate from this federal benefit.

After EI Sickness Benefits: The CPP Disability Option

For a medical condition expected to continue well past the 26 week EI sickness maximum, some claimants look into the Canada Pension Plan disability benefit as a longer term option once EI sickness benefits end. That is a separate program with its own severe and prolonged disability test and its own application process, run entirely apart from EI. See CPP Disability in Canada for what that program requires. This article presents that as one option to look into, not as a recommended sequence or a guarantee of eligibility.

Quebec workers remain eligible for EI sickness benefits. Quebec's own parental insurance program covers maternity, parental, and adoption benefits for Quebec workers instead of EI, but sickness benefits are not part of that carve out and continue to run through the federal EI system the same as elsewhere in Canada.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about the federal Employment Insurance sickness benefit under the Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23, and its regulations, current as of August 2026. It is not legal or financial advice. It does not confirm working while on claim rules specific to sickness benefits or a waiting period waiver for a claim following an earlier EI benefit type. Consult Service Canada or a lawyer licensed in your province for advice on your specific situation.