When it comes to working in Canada, most of us will only see a fraction of what we actually earn in the average workweek. The reason? Canada is a "socialized" country, and that means we have plenty of programs at work that are intended to make life less costly for those who can least afford it. These programs are funded by taxes, and taxes come in many different forms.

One of the most misleading of these taxes is what is known as Employment Insurance. Not only is the name misleading (paying out these fees won’t ensure employment, it is meant to keep people paid when they are unemployed), but also really doesn’t operate in the way insurance should; it is in no way optional. Most of the time Employment Insurance premiums are paid by the employee and the employer before the pay cheque is handed out. Of course, when it comes to claiming your Employment Insurance benefits you can expect the Canadian Government to operate just like any insurance program; that is to say, good luck actually seeing any of that money returned!

Are there exceptions to the EI payment rules?

Operating as a tax is not the only way in which Employment Insurance displays the unique stamp of government operation. It can also be next to impossible to find out any specific details of the program, beyond that various officials believe it should be paid. In researching this article, we took a look at various sites, including the government of Canada site, and contacted MPs and MLAs across the country and of course various bureaucratic offices, and no one seemed to know for sure if Employment Insurance operated as an optional payment plan for the self employed individual or if it was a requirement; after all, should you lose your job in this case, you are not eligible for EI payments.

But what if you work for a family member? Well, it seems to be a bit clearer in this case, though it is not spelled out in English (or French!) anywhere. Companies must contribute to the Employment Insurance program, and parts of the contributions are those made by the employees. In this way, the fund for EI has grown so large that it will probably never be spent.

So, no matter who owns the company that you work for, the odds are pretty good that you will be paying into this government sponsored insurance scheme. Rest easy, though, because if you satisfy points A to Z, you just might be covered in the event of a tropical storm.