Can You Get EI If You Quit? What Counts as Just Cause

If you quit your job, you can get Employment Insurance (EI) only if you had just cause, which the law defines as having no reasonable alternative to leaving. Harassment, unsafe work, a big cut to your pay, a firm offer of another job, or having to move with your spouse can all count. Wanting a better job, or going back to school on your own, usually doesn’t.

Quitting without just cause blocks regular benefits, not every kind of EI. Sickness, maternity and parental benefits can still be paid if you qualify for them (in Quebec, maternity and parental benefits come from the province’s own plan). And the block lifts once you’ve worked enough hours at a new job to qualify again.

What counts as just cause for quitting?

Just cause means you had no reasonable alternative to leaving, given everything that was going on. Section 29 of the Employment Insurance Act (opens in a new tab) lists situations that can meet that bar. Service Canada weighs all the circumstances, so a reason that isn’t on the list can still count, and one that is on it can still fail.

The Act’s list also names an employer breaking the law, discrimination because you belong to a union, and undue pressure from your employer to leave.

What does “no reasonable alternative” mean?

It means you tried to fix the problem, or it couldn’t be fixed. Service Canada expects you to have raised it with your employer or union, asked for a transfer, a new schedule or a leave, or found another job before leaving, unless things were so bad you couldn’t stay while you looked.

Service Canada’s guidelines for its officers (opens in a new tab) separate a good reason for leaving from just cause. Being unhappy with your pay, wanting a better job and going back to school are all good reasons, and none of them is just cause on its own.

What you’re expected to try first

It depends on where the problem is. For trouble at work, the guidelines list:

• talking to your employer or union and asking for the problem to be fixed
• using your collective agreement or employment contract
• asking for a transfer, other duties or a different supervisor
• using employment standards, health and safety, or human rights laws

For trouble in your personal life, they list asking for a different schedule, looking for childcare among family and friends, and asking for a leave until you find a solution. You aren’t expected to take anyone to court first.

It’s on you to explain why you left

The person who quit has to show why leaving was justified, so the reason you give on your application matters. Keep whatever shows you tried: the email where you raised the problem, the transfer you asked for, the complaint you filed. If you were in real and immediate danger at work, the guidelines say you weren’t expected to stay while you tried the alternatives.

What if you quit because of stress, school or a move?

Each of these has its own rule in Service Canada’s guidelines, and the answer depends on the details.

Stress, burnout or your mental health

Look at sickness benefits first. If a medical condition stops you from working, EI sickness benefits (opens in a new tab) pay up to 26 weeks at 55% of your earnings, to a maximum of $729 a week. You need 600 insured hours (opens in a new tab) in the 52 weeks before your claim and a medical certificate, which a doctor, nurse practitioner or psychologist can sign. Service Canada says a quit without just cause doesn’t stop you from getting them if you qualify, and the law pauses the disqualification for any week you’re entitled to them.

Quitting can also count as just cause on medical grounds, but the proof has to say the right thing. The guidelines accept a medical document stating it wasn’t reasonable for you to keep working in that state. A note giving you two weeks off is a different thing, and it can work against you. If your doctor prescribed a leave and you resigned instead, the leave was the reasonable alternative. So if you’re close to the edge, ask your doctor about a medical leave before you resign.

A new job, and what if it falls through

A firm offer of another job starting soon can be just cause. It has to be a real assurance, though. The guidelines say a conditional offer doesn’t count (opens in a new tab), and neither does hearing about openings. Timing matters too. Courts have ruled that jobs starting eight and thirteen weeks later weren’t “in the immediate future”.

If the new job falls through or turns out to be short, that isn’t held against you as long as you acted in good faith. The guidelines suggest trying to take back your resignation and return to the old job.

Going back to school

Usually no. Going back to school on your own is a good reason to leave a job, but it isn’t just cause. The exception is a course you’ve been referred to by a designated authority (opens in a new tab), which in practice means your province’s employment and training services. Even then, you should leave no more than about two weeks before the course starts.

Moving

It depends whose move it is. Having to go with a spouse, common-law partner or dependent child who is moving counts. Deciding to move for yourself doesn’t, and neither does moving to start living with a new partner. The EI regulations cover a partner you’ve lived with for less than a year if either of you has had, adopted or is expecting a child in that time. Without a child, the move can still count, and Service Canada looks at everything that led you to go.

Either way, Service Canada will ask whether you could have commuted, lived apart for a while, asked for a transfer to a branch near the new home, or found work there before you left.

Harassment or a bad boss

Harassment is just cause, and you don’t always have to wait for a complaint to run its course. When it was intolerable and couldn’t have been fixed within days, the guidelines say not using a remedy first shouldn’t count against you. Officers are also told to take a claimant’s statement about sexual harassment or discrimination at face value.

A difficult boss is a harder case. Conflict with a supervisor counts only if you’re not mainly responsible for it, and you’re expected to have reported it higher up, asked for a transfer, gone to your union or looked for other work first.

What happens if Service Canada says no?

You’re disqualified from regular benefits for the whole claim, not for a set number of weeks. The hours you worked before quitting can’t be used to qualify again, so you’d need a fresh 420 to 700 hours of insurable work, depending on where you live. You can ask for a reconsideration within 30 days.

The hours from before you quit stop counting

Under section 30 of the Act (opens in a new tab), none of your hours from before the quit can help you qualify, and the hours from the job you left never count toward how many weeks you get or your weekly rate. The quit also doesn’t have to be your last job. If you quit one job without just cause and a later job ends in a layoff, the earlier quit can still disqualify you.

The disqualification does end, though. Once you’ve worked enough insurable hours since leaving to qualify on those alone, you can start a new claim without it.

Nearly half of reconsidered decisions change

Quitting is the most common reason people ask Service Canada to look at an EI decision again. Voluntary leaving made up 22% of the issues in reconsideration requests in 2024-25, more than anything else, and Service Canada gets about 70,000 requests a year. Across every issue, 47.9% of initial decisions were reversed or changed (opens in a new tab) after a reconsideration.

You have 30 days from the date the decision was communicated to you (opens in a new tab) to ask, in person or by mail. A late request needs a reason for the delay. Send anything new you have: the complaint you filed, a doctor’s note, the written job offer.

If the reconsideration goes against you too, the next step changed this year. Since April 1, 2026, appeals go to the new Employment Insurance Board of Appeal (opens in a new tab), which replaced the Social Security Tribunal’s General Division for EI cases. You have 30 days from the reconsideration decision to appeal.

How do you apply for EI after quitting?

The same way anyone else does, and within four weeks of your last day, because applying later can cost you benefits (opens in a new tab). The application asks why each job ended, and if you quit, you give your version of what happened. Service Canada also asks your employer for theirs, so be specific and keep your proof ready.

Apply even if you’re not sure you had just cause. Service Canada makes the call, not you, and a claim you never file can’t be reconsidered.

If you had just cause, what EI pays doesn’t change because you quit. If you qualify, regular benefits are 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings (opens in a new tab), up to $729 a week in 2026, for 14 to 45 weeks depending on the unemployment rate where you live. Our guide to the first 30 days after a layoff goes through the amounts and how they’re taxed.

Before you resign, give yourself a runway

If you’re still deciding, the safest way to quit is one where EI saying no wouldn’t leave you stuck. Until you’ve worked enough hours at a new job to claim again, a quit without just cause means your savings are your only income. Even one or two months of expenses set aside changes how that decision feels, and how long you can wait for the right job. Our guide to building an emergency fund has the targets.

Lodavo is a free app that makes building that runway more rewarding. Connect the savings or chequing account you already use, and every $25 in it earns a ticket in a weekly draw for cash prizes up to $10,000. Your money stays in your own account, ready for the week you need it.

If you’re building that cushion now, Lodavo is free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) and the Google Play Store (opens in a new tab).

This article is general information, not legal advice. Service Canada decides every claim on its own facts, so give your full version of events when you apply.

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