Can a court impute income to a payor who is receiving employment insurance instead of working?

Receiving employment insurance benefits does not automatically shield a payor from having income imputed, but it also does not automatically trigger it; the analysis comes back to whether the payor is making genuine, reasonable efforts to return to comparable work or whether they are relying on benefits as a way to avoid working at their real capacity. A parent who was legitimately laid off, is actively job searching, and is receiving benefits as an interim bridge is treated very differently from one who appears to be coasting on benefits without a genuine effort to find new employment.

Courts will look at the duration of the benefit period, what job search activity the payor can document, whether comparable work was realistically available and declined, and whether the timing of the job loss or reduced effort coincides suspiciously with a support proceeding. Because employment insurance is time-limited by its own rules, a court is also mindful that a payor's income situation may need to be reassessed again once benefits end. Documenting job search efforts throughout the benefit period is the most useful evidence a payor in this position can gather.