What do you when you hear you are going to be laid off?
I panicked. The same day I got that news, my husband and I had made a firm offer on our first home, a lucky find well below our max (and low) budget in this small town locked in a Seller's market.
My husband had used Employment Insurance a couple of times when he was younger. He was familiar with it. I've never been let go from a job; the longest I've gone unemployed in my life has been two weeks and part of that was because I was moving and needed to get settled in.
So I trusted him when I applied, but I applied too early. Way too early. My reported last day was a month behind when it should be, my last day I physically stood and worked in my workplace. It was evening when I sent in the application after looking at it multiple times. I was drained and exhausted and I sent it in.
I made a mistake in my panic. And I couldn't get through the automated telephone tree to get help. Every time I tried to call to cancel, I was either kicked out somewhere in the automated message due to 'high call volumes' and even when I got through the tree, I was kicked out at the end because no matter what option I picked, it was busy.
Then I got the emergency benefit money the government promised. Now I'm in a full-blown panic because what if I'm charged with fraud? I just want to give back the money and close my claim, but I can't reach anyone because a million plus others are trying to get help too during their pandemic panic.
But Service Canada was nice. They have an online form you can fill in to get someone to call you back for some general help. They put notes on my file and even put an alert to have EI call me back to get this fixed.
I didn't mean to take what I didn't need. I just want to give it back in full. Preferably without any discipline.
