This guide covers who qualifies in 2026, how much you get at different earnings, the medical certificate, and the deadlines that cost people money.

The short answer

EI sickness benefits pay 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to $729 a week in 2026, for up to 26 weeks. To qualify you need a medical certificate, a drop of more than 40% in your weekly earnings, and 600 insured hours in the past 52 weeks. Apply as soon as you stop working. If you wait more than 4 weeks after your last day of work, you may lose benefits.

Those figures come from Service Canada’s EI sickness benefits pages, updated October 22, 2026. You apply to Service Canada online.

Who qualifies for EI sickness benefits

Service Canada lists these conditions. Use this as a checklist before you apply. The wording follows the official eligibility page.

• You cannot work for medical reasons. Medical reasons include illness, injury, quarantine or any medical condition that prevents you from working.
• Your regular weekly earnings dropped by more than 40% for at least one week.
• You have 600 insured hours of work in the 52 weeks before the start of your claim, or since the start of your last claim if that is shorter.
• You have a medical certificate signed by the treating medical professional, showing that you cannot work and roughly for how long.

Sickness benefits are for people who would otherwise be available for work. In other words, the illness or injury is the only reason you are not working.

Check with your employer first. Some employers have their own paid sick leave or short-term disability plan. If your employer is registered in the Premium Reduction Program, you need to use its sick leave plan before you receive EI benefits.

How much EI sickness pays in 2026

The basic rate is 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum. For 2026 the maximum yearly insurable earnings are $68,900, and the maximum benefit is $729 a week, according to the benefit amount page.

Service Canada does not simply average your whole year. It takes your highest paid weeks, called your best weeks. The number of best weeks depends on the unemployment rate where you live and ranges from 14 to 22. It adds your insurable earnings from those weeks, divides by the number of best weeks, then multiplies by 55%.

Gizly calculation: 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, capped at $729. The 26-week column assumes you are paid for the full 26 weeks. Amounts are before any deductions.

The cap kicks in at about $1,325 a week. That is $68,900 divided by 52, and 55% of it is $728.75, which lines up with the published $729 maximum. If you earn more than that, your benefit stays at $729.

Worked example: average earnings of $1,000 a week

Say a hypothetical worker has average insurable weekly earnings of $1,000 across their best weeks. Their medical certificate says they cannot work for at least 26 weeks.

• Weekly benefit: $1,000 times 55% is $550, under the $729 cap.
• Over two weeks, that is $1,100.
• If paid for all 26 weeks: $550 times 26 is $14,300.

The first week of the claim is an unpaid waiting period. Service Canada compares it to an insurance deductible.

The family supplement

Lower income families can get more. You may qualify for the family supplement if your annual net family income is $25,921 or less, you have at least one child under 18, and you or your spouse receive the Canada Child Benefit. It is added to your payments automatically. Your total weekly amount still cannot go above $729.

Some employers also pay a top-up on top of EI while you are on sick leave. Ask your employer whether it offers one.

The medical certificate

You need a medical certificate signed by the treating medical professional. They can use Service Canada’s form INS5140, Medical certificate for Employment Insurance sickness benefits, or their own form.

If they use their own form, it must be readable and show:

• their letterhead or official stamp
• your name
• the start date and expected length of your incapacity, if known
• their handwritten, electronic or stamped signature

Service Canada accepts certificates from a medical doctor, chiropractor, podiatrist, optometrist, psychologist, dentist, midwife or nurse practitioner. A registered nurse can sign in isolated areas when a doctor is not available. For quarantine, a letter from the Public Health Agency of Canada or a provincial or territorial health authority works. The professional should practise in Canada or the United States and treat conditions in their field.

Your practitioner may charge a fee for the certificate, and Service Canada does not pay it back. You may not have to send the certificate with your application. If you are not asked for it, keep it for 6 years in case Service Canada asks later.

How to apply for EI sickness benefits

The online application takes about 1 hour. Have this ready, as listed on the apply page: names and addresses of your employers for the past 52 weeks, your Social Insurance Number, a parent’s last name at birth, and your banking details for direct deposit.

1. Confirm your last day of work. Your 4-week window to apply starts from this date.
2. Ask your employer about its plan. Find out whether it offers paid sick leave, short-term disability or a top-up, and when it will issue your Record of Employment.
3. Get the medical certificate. Ask your treating professional to complete form INS5140 or their own certificate.
4. Apply online. Complete the EI application on canada.ca. Upload the certificate in My Service Canada Account if you are asked to submit it.
5. Watch your mail. Service Canada mails a benefit statement with a four-digit access code, which you use for your reports.
6. Submit your reports every 2 weeks. Once you submit a report, you get the date for the next one. You have 3 weeks from that date to complete it.

Key dates on a sample claim

Here is how the official deadlines fall for a hypothetical worker whose last day of work is Friday, November 6, 2026, and who applies on Monday, November 9.

Dates counted by script. The first payment date is an estimate based on Service Canada’s “about 28 days” and assumes you are eligible and sent everything needed.

Working or earning money while on EI sickness

You must report any work or earnings on your biweekly reports. If you do not, you risk being overpaid and having to repay benefits. The rule on the working while on claim page is that you keep 50 cents of your benefits for every dollar you earn, up to 90% of your previous weekly earnings. Above that cap, benefits are deducted dollar for dollar. If you work a full week, you get no benefits for that week, but it does not reduce the total weeks payable on your claim.

Service Canada gives a sickness benefit example on that page. A person receives $468 a week and works part time for $260. Half of the $260, or $130, comes off the benefit, leaving $338. We checked it a second way: $468 is 55% of about $851 a week, and 90% of that is about $766, so $260 is well under the cap. Total income that week is $338 plus $260, or $598.

If your employer is in the Premium Reduction Program and pays wage loss indemnity or paid sick leave, those payments are deducted differently. Ask Service Canada how they apply to your claim.

Other rules worth knowing

• Travel. You are not usually eligible for sickness benefits while outside Canada. The exception is when you are getting medical treatment that is not readily available where you live.
• Pregnancy. If you have health complications during pregnancy, you could be eligible for sickness benefits or maternity benefits. You must meet the conditions for each.
• Combining EI benefits. You may qualify for more than one type of EI benefit, but benefits end once you reach the maximum weeks payable when combining types.
• Long-term conditions. If your condition is expected to be long-term or permanent, Service Canada points to other benefits such as Canada Pension Plan disability benefits.

If your payment is late or your claim is refused

First check that you have submitted every biweekly report and uploaded anything you were asked for. Service Canada’s 28-day estimate only applies once it has all required information.

If Service Canada decides you are not eligible, it will tell you. You can ask for a reconsideration, but you must do it within 30 days after the day the decision was communicated to you.

Related: if you have a new baby on the way, see our EI maternity and parental benefits guide. To compare your benefit with your usual take-home pay, try the Canadian income tax calculator.

Frequently asked questions

• Sources, checked November 2, 2026: Service Canada: EI sickness benefits (modified 2026-10-22); EI sickness: Do you qualify (modified 2026-10-22); EI sickness: How much you could receive (modified 2026-10-22); EI sickness: Apply (modified 2026-10-22); EI sickness: After you apply (modified 2026-10-22); EI regular benefits: How much you could receive (modified 2026-10-19), for the $68,900 maximum insurable earnings; Working while on claim (modified 2025-06-06).
• Method: Weekly amounts are 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, capped at $729, calculated by script. The cap was checked a second way by dividing $68,900 by 52. The part-time example reproduces Service Canada’s published example. Sample dates were counted by script from November 6, 2026.

Important: This guide is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Service Canada decides eligibility and amounts on each claim. Gizly is not affiliated with the Government of Canada. See our affiliate disclosure.