You need a medical certificate signed by an authorized practitioner:
The certificate must include:
Keep your certificate for 6 years – Service Canada may request it later.
Find out if you may qualify for Employment Insurance sickness benefits
Based on official Government of Canada guidelines
EI Sickness Benefit is the temporary financial assistance available to eligible workers who cannot work and earn money due to their illness or medical conditions. It provides them with support for 26 weeks.
Eligible workers can receive 55 percent of their income up to a maximum amount of $729 per week to cover their expenses. This sickness can include illness, injury, recovery from surgery, quarantine, or another health-related issue due to which a person can not perform their regular job duties.
Most employers offer their own short-term sickness benefit plans for workers. You are advised to check them out before applying for the EI Sickness Benefits.
If you are suffering from a severe disability that can last long, you can also be eligible for the CPP & QPP disability benefits.
In case you are ill during pregnancy, you can also be eligible for sickness or EI Maternity Benefits.
This EI Sickness Benefit program is designed to replace a part of lost income while an individual focuses on recovery. Eligible applicants can receive weekly payments for a limited temporary period. To qualify, applicants generally need a medical certificate, enough insurable work hours, and a significant reduction in earnings due to their medical condition. The benefit amount is usually calculated based on a percentage of the claimant's average insurable earnings, up to the maximum limit set by the government.
Eligibility for EI Sickness Benefits depends on several factors related to employment, earnings, and medical circumstances. In general, a worker or employee may qualify if they:
Eligibility is assessed on an individual basis, which is why many workers seek an estimate before submitting an official application.
To receive EI Sickness Benefits, you must provide a medical certificate signed by your treating healthcare practitioner. You can use either Service Canada's medical certificate form or a certificate provided by your practitioner. The certificate must include your name, the start date of your illness or injury, the expected recovery period (if known), and the practitioner's official signature or stamp. It must be easily readable.
The following medical practitioners or health officers can approve your certificate. They must practise in Canada or the United States, and the illness must be in their field:
Many workers find it difficult to determine whether they qualify for EI Sickness Benefits because the rules can be lengthy and confusing. Employees may face many common challenges in checking their EI Sickness Benefits eligibility, whether they qualify or not.
As a result, many people spend considerable time searching through government resources or contacting support services for clarification. Here, we worked for them and solved this problem by making an EI Sickness Benefits Eligibility Calculator tool.
To make the process of checking eligibility easier, we have created a simple and user-friendly EI Sickness Benefits eligibility calculator that guides users through the most important eligibility factors. Instead of reviewing complex program guidelines, users can answer a few straightforward questions and receive an instant estimate.
Our goal is to offer clear guidance and help users make informed decisions about their next steps.
The EI Sickness Benefits Eligibility Checker is a free online tool that helps workers find out whether they may qualify for Employment Insurance sickness benefits and what documents they need before applying for the sickness benefits.
The calculator checks eligibility for EI Sickness based on a few major factors, like:
Based on the information entered, the calculator generates an instant eligibility estimate and provides a projected weekly benefit amount. No application is submitted, and no personal information is shared with government agencies.
Using the EI Sickness Benefit Eligibility Calculator is simple and takes only a few seconds. Follow these steps to check your potential eligibility and estimate your benefits:
Provide information about your illness, injury, quarantine, or other medical condition. You will also be asked whether you have a medical certificate from an authorized healthcare practitioner.
Indicate whether your weekly earnings have decreased by at least 40% due to your medical condition and select the number of insurable hours you have worked during the qualifying period.
Tell us whether you are receiving employer-paid sick leave or wage continuation benefits. This helps determine how your benefits may be affected.
If you have received Employment Insurance benefits within the last 52 weeks, you can enter that information. This step is optional but may improve the accuracy of your results.
Provide your average gross weekly earnings before taxes and deductions. The calculator uses this information to estimate your potential EI sickness benefit amount.
After completing all required fields, the calculator will instantly provide the eligibility details if you are eligible or not.
Because waiting on hold for 45 minutes just to get a basic answer is a pain. This EI sickness benefit duration calculator tells you right away if you qualify for the full 26 weeks or less, based on your recent claim history. No phone tree, no transfer wait.
This EI sickness benefits eligibility checker is for anyone who's sick, injured, or in quarantine and wondering if they qualify. That includes regular employees, self-employed people who opted into EI, and even those who don't have the full 600 hours. If you need time off for medical reasons, start here.
100% free. No sign up, no credit card, no hidden fees. This EI medical leave duration checker works for all Canadian workers.Whether you're a full time employee, part time worker, or self employed, it costs nothing to check how many weeks you might get.
No way. This EI sickness benefit eligibility tool does not save, store, or share any of your information. No SIN, no name, no medical details, no email. Your answers stay in your browser. We never see them and we never sell your data. Completely private.
Yes. This Canadian EI sickness benefit rules calculator follows official Service Canada rules. That means the 26 week maximum, the 600 hour requirement, the medical certificate rule for quarantine, and the difference between EI sickness and CPP disability. It won't guarantee approval, but it gives you a straight answer before you call Service Canada.
⚠️This tool is for information purpose only. We do not guarantee any claim.
It is made based on data publicaly available on official website of concerned department.
Last Updated: March 2026 | Official Determination Required