Adjustment Assistance Regulations (Textile and Clothing Workers)

Regulations Providing for Adjustment Assistance to Displaced Workers in Textile and Clothing Industries These Regulations may be cited as the Adjustment Assistance Regulations (Textile and Clothing Workers). In these Regulations, Act means the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1971; (Loi) average weekly insurable earnings, with respect to an employee who is eligible to receive pre-retirement benefit, means the average of his weekly insurable earnings, as determined pursuant to the Act, from employment by a Canadian producer for the 20 weeks of employment nearest to the effective date of his lay-off; (gains hebdomadaires assurables moyens) Board means the Textile and Clothing Board established by the Textile and Clothing Board Act; (Commission du textile et du vêtement) board of referees means a board of referees established by the Act; (conseil arbitral) Canadian producer means a person who produces in Canada any textile and clothing goods; (producteur canadien) certificate means a certificate issued by the Board pursuant to section 21 of the Textile and Clothing Board Act and section 3 of these Regulations; (certificat) Commission means the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission; (Commission) effective date of lay-off means the date of lay-off of an employee that occurs within a lay-off period; (date d’effet de la mise à pied) employee means a person who is included in a lay-off; (employé) employer means an employer named in a certificate; (employeur) lay-off means a lay-off as a result of which a certificate is issued by the Board pursuant to section 21 of the Textile and Clothing Board Act and section 3 of these Regulations; (mise à pied) maximum pre-retirement benefit has the meaning assigned by section 9; (prestation maximale d’avant-retraite) Minister means the Minister of Labour; (ministre) pre-retirement benefit means the pre-retirement benefit payable under these Regulations; (prestation d’avant-retraite) qualifying week, with respect to an employee, means a week during which the employee was employed by a Canadian producer and had insurable earnings as determined pursuant to the Act; (semaine donnant droit à l’aide) textile and clothing goods has the meaning assigned by section 2 of the Textile and Clothing Board Act; (articles de textile et d’habillement) umpire means an umpire appointed under Part V of the Act. (arbitre) The Board shall, in accordance with subsection 21(3) of the Textile and Clothing Board Act, certify the persons or classes of persons who are eligible to apply for assistance under these Regulations. Notwithstanding subsection (1), no person or class of persons is eligible to apply for assistance under these Regulations in respect of a lay-off that occurred before December 19, 1970. Pre-retirement benefit may be paid by the Commission out of monies appropriated by Parliament for the purpose in an amount calculated in accordance with this Part to an employee resident in Canada where the Commission is satisfied that application for benefit under the Act has been made and any benefit entitlement thereunder has been exhausted; and a pre-retirement benefit period in respect of that employee has been established. Payments of pre-retirement benefit to an employee pursuant to subsection (1) shall be suspended for such time as the certification referred to in paragraph 5(c) is suspended pursuant to section 6 in respect of that employee. A pre-retirement benefit period is established in respect of an employee when, upon filing an application for pre-retirement benefit, he proves that he had been employed by a Canadian producer in at least 10 of the 15 years immediately preceding a lay-off and that he was paid by a producer for at least 1,000 hours in each of those 10 years; he was not less than 54 years of age but less than 65 years of age at the date of the lay-off; and he has been certified by the Commission as a person resident in Canada for whom there is no present prospect of employment with or without further training or relocation assistance, or who has accepted employment with earnings that are less than his average weekly insurable earnings. The circumstances of every employee certified as required by paragraph 5(c) shall be reviewed at least once every twelve months by the Commission and if, upon review, any such employee does not meet the requirements of that paragraph the certification referred to therein shall be suspended. Where, in respect of an application for pre-retirement benefit, any employee or any person on his behalf makes a statement or representation that the employee knows to be false or misleading, the Commission may declare the employee to be disqualified from receiving pre-retirement benefit for a number of weeks not exceeding the first three of the weeks described in subsection (2) that occur after such day as the Commission may determine. For the purposes of subsection (1), a week described in this subsection is a week in respect of which an employee makes a claim for pre-retirement benefit in the manner prescribed by the Commission; and would, but for this section, be entitled to receive pre-retirement benefit. Every pre-retirement benefit period established under these Regulations in respect of an employee shall commence with the date on which his unemployment insurance benefit period is terminated and shall terminate when he attains the age of 65 years, or on the date on which he becomes eligible to receive retirement pension under the Canada Pension Plan or the Quebec Pension Plan, whichever is the earlier. The maximum pre-retirement benefit of an employee in respect of whom a pre-retirement benefit period has been established under these Regulations is a weekly sum of money equal to sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of his average weekly insurable earnings, which amount shall be rounded to the nearest cent in accordance with subsection 12(2). For the purpose of subsection (1), the insurable earnings of an employee for any week of employment pursuant to an agreement under section 37 of the Act shall be the amount the employee would have earned in that week if he had worked a full working week of the same employer, or the maximum weekly insurable earnings of an insured person under the Act whichever is the lesser. There shall be deducted from pre-retirement benefits payable to an employee an amount equal to $0.66 2/3 for each dollar obtained by the employee as earnings from employment or self-employment, pension benefits from employer pension plans that were earned as a result of employment, vacation pay, and any income other than that described in subparagraphs (i) to (iii) that is received during the pre-retirement benefit period established under these Regulations as a result of current or previous employment; and $1 for each dollar obtained by the employee as unemployment insurance benefit received during a pre-retirement benefit period established under these Regulations. Where a lay-off occurs as a result of which a pre-retirement benefit is authorized to be paid to an employee, the monthly amount of that benefit shall be adjusted annually so that the pre-retirement benefit payable to the employee for a month in any year following the year in which the lay-off occurs is the product obtained by multiplying the pre-retirement benefit for that month by the ratio that the Pension Index for the year bears to the Pension Index for the year in which the lay-off occurred. In this section, “Pension Index” has the same meaning as in section 43.1 of the Canada Pension Plan, and the Pension Index for any year means the Pension Index for that year calculated in the manner described in that section. When the maximum pre-retirement benefit is adjusted annually pursuant to section 11, the product obtained by multiplying the amount referred to in paragraph 11(1)(a) by the ratio referred to in paragraph 11(1)(b) shall be adjusted to the nearest cent in accordance with subsection (2); and the quotient obtained from the ratio referred to in paragraph 11(1)(b) shall be expressed as a decimal fraction in accordance with subsection (3). Where the product referred to in paragraph (1)(a) contains a fractional part of $1, that fraction shall be expressed as a decimal fraction of three or more digits after the decimal point and the third and subsequent digits after the decimal point shall be dropped if the third digit is less than five; or the second digit after the decimal point shall be increased by one and the third and subsequent digits shall be dropped if the third digit is five or greater than five. Where the quotient referred to in paragraph (1)(b) contains a fraction that is less than one, that fraction shall be expressed as a decimal fraction of four digits after the decimal point, and the fourth digit after the decimal point shall be dropped if that digit is less than five; or the third digit after the decimal point shall be increased by one and the fourth digit dropped if the fourth digit is five or greater than five. The Commission shall administer these Regulations on behalf of the Minister and shall receive applications for pre-retirement benefit from employees; determine the eligibility of employees to pre-retirement benefit and the amount and duration of the pre-retirement benefit payable to each such employee; pay pre-retirement benefit and, subject to these Regulations, make recovery of overpayments of pre-retirement benefit and of amounts paid pursuant to these Regulations to any person not entitled thereto; and make such reports to the Minister concerning the administration of these Regulations as he may require. Sections 53, 54 and 55 of the Act apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, to applications for pre-retirement benefit under these Regulations. Where an employee submits an application for pre-retirement benefit on a day later than the day on which he was qualified to make the application and shows good cause for the delay, the application may, in the manner and to the extent prescribed by section 39 of the Unemployment Insurance Regulations be regarded as having been submitted on a day earlier than the day on which it was submitted. The Commission shall consider all applications submitted to it under these Regulations, and if it is of the opinion that a pre-retirement benefit period has been established, it shall so declare; or if it is of the opinion that a pre-retirement benefit period has not been established, it shall declare that a pre-retirement benefit period has not been established and state which of the conditions or requirements of these Regulations have not been complied with, or refer the application, if practicable, within 14 days from the day on which the application was submitted to it, to a board of referees for its decision. Notwithstanding that a pre-retirement benefit period has been established, if the Commission is not satisfied that an employee has fulfilled all the other conditions or requirements for pre-retirement benefit or if it is of the opinion that the employee is or was disqualified or disentitled from receiving pre-retirement benefit it shall declare the employee to be disqualified or disentitled from receiving benefit for such days as it may determine, and state the grounds on which the employee is disqualified or disentitled, or the conditions or requirements that he does not fulfil; or Where an employee has been declared disqualified or disentitled under paragraph (2)(a) for any day or days, there shall be deducted from the pre-retirement benefit otherwise payable to him in respect of the week in which such day or days fall, an amount equal to 1/5 of the product obtained by multiplying the total number of such days in the week by the weekly pre-retirement benefit of that employee, but if the amount so calculated is not a multiple of $1, the amount shall be rounded to the nearest dollar and $0.50 shall be rounded to a full dollar. Subsection (3) applies only in respect of days of disqualification or disentitlement falling on or after January 11, 1974. A board of referees has power to consider and determine appeals from decisions made under these Regulations by the Commission and matters referred to it under these Regulations by the Commission and an appeal lies from a decision of a board of referees on any such appeal or reference to an umpire. Sections 91 to 99 and 101 to 105 of the Act and 62 to 70 of the Unemployment Insurance Regulations apply to these Regulations with such modifications as the circumstances require. Where an employee has received a pre-retirement benefit for any period in respect of which he is disqualified or to which he is otherwise not entitled, he is liable to repay an amount equal to the amount so received by him. Notwithstanding subsection (1), section 60 of the Unemployment Insurance Regulations applies with such modifications as the circumstances require to pre-retirement benefits paid to employees not entitled thereto.