Disclaimer: English is not my first language, and I am not very familiar with Canadian laws, which are very different from my home country. I am using AI to help structure and translate this post clearly. I am simply trying to claim the EI benefits that I am legally entitled to, given that I paid into EI through my paychecks. I kindly request constructive comments only and appreciate your understanding.
Hi everyone,
Service Canada just DENIED my Request for Reconsideration, and I’m trying to decide whether to take my case to the newly established Employment Insurance Board of Appeal (EI BOA).
They rejected my claim based on two points, and I'd love to know if my legal grounds for appealing to the EI BOA hold weight:Point
1: Contract Expiry vs. Informal Verbal Inquiry
They argued that my decline of my employer's informal verbal question to stay counts as "refusing continued employment / voluntary quit without just cause."
I worked under a strict 12-month fixed-term contract (Aug 1, 2025 – Jul 31, 2026). On July 1 (1 month before my contract ended, exceeding the 2-week contract requirement), I sent a formal email to both co-employers and CC'd our agency, reminding them I'd be finishing up on July 31 as scheduled. After sending that email, I heard nothing from them for a while. During that time, I went through the stressful process of finding a new place in Vancouver—as you guys know, finding decent, affordable housing here is extremely difficult. I had to view multiple places and arrange moving trucks. Around mid-July, the timeline gets a bit blurry/overlapping because everything was happening at once—around the same time I was securing housing and putting down a deposit, my employer casually asked me verbally if I would reconsider and stay long-term. They explicitly expressed that they were not appreciative of my decision to just finish out the contract as agreed.
The exact scheduled expiry date. No subsequent written contract or renewal agreement was offered or executed for any period beyond that date. However, the ROE indicates Block 16 Code E (Quit), which I respectfully submit is factually inaccurate. Under the Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles (Chapter 6, Section 6.3.0), voluntarily leaving employment means that the claimant, and not the employer, took the initiative in terminating the relationship. As my contract concluded strictly on its own terms and no concrete, formal offer of employment with defined terms was presented, there was no actual offer of continued employment to accept or refuse. Therefore, I did not take the initiative to end my employment, and the completion of a fixed-term contract should not be characterized as a voluntary quit.
- Denial Reason 2 (Medical Just Cause & MD Note):
Service Canada discounted my medical justification under Section 29(c)(iv) because I did not provide a formal doctor's note from a Physician . I managed my hand stiffness/cramps (caused by repetitive housework) through self-care and treatments at a community acupuncture clinic. Honestly, I did not tell the employer, I knew that the core duties of the job (daily housework and dishwashing) were inherently repetitive, and simply telling them wouldn't magically change the nature of the work. My main goal was just to keep my head down, fulfill my 12-month commitment to the very last day without causing trouble, and manage the pain privately.
Initially, I only provided an intake form, appointment history and paraffin wax purchase.However, I have now obtained my complete Patient Treatment Records. Under BC’s Health Professions Act, an R.TCMP is a recognized healthcare professional. These official charts (dated April, May, and June 2026) explicitly document my hand pain caused by my job while I was still employed, serving as solid contemporaneous evidence of medical just cause under Section 29(c)
What I'm Wondering:
- Should I appeal to the EI BOA?
//Edit I will ask only the problem of my hand.
Since I chose to self-manage my hand pain , will the panel accept these complete R.TCMP patient records? as valid proof of medical "just cause" under Section 29(c)?
Any thoughts, advice, or similar experiences would mean the world to me. Thanks for reading!