Diagnosed with cancer after giving birth, Jane Kittmer expected to be able to count on EI sick benefits to help with some of her expenses.
But instead, she found herself locked in a battle with the federal government over $5,000.
“The letter I was expecting to receive was ‘Here’s your payment as decided by a judge,’ so when I read it, I was pretty shocked,” she says.
In 2010, Kittmer was told she wasn’t eligible for sick benefits because she was on maternity leave when she was diagnosed.
Chemotherapy left the Stratford-area woman unable to return to work, but also unable to receive the benefits.
Had she not been on maternity leave when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Kittmer says, she’d have been given the benefits without any issues.
The case ultimately made its way to an arbitrator, who ruled that Kittmer should be given $5,000 in sick benefits.
The government appealed that ruling in court.
Lawyer Stephen Moreau, who is representing Kittmer and up to 60,000 other women in a class action lawsuit, says the case should be straightforward.
“They got sick after their children were born and they’re not able to work, and they’re saying they should be able to claim a benefit during a period of sickness,” he says.
The law governing the case was recently changed so that others in Kittmer’s situation would qualify for sick benefits if they applied today, but the government continues to fight to keep the payments from those who applied before the change.
“It’s pretty confusing. I don’t understand how they can be giving on one hand and taking away on the other,” says Kittmer.
While the battle with the government has not gone as well as Kittmer hoped, the battle with cancer has – she’s now cancer-free.
