Employment Insurance Debacle

 I apologize in advance for this ranty post, but I am really so fed up and frustrated that I really feel like I've gotta get it out of my system.

Let me set the mood first...

Dominic was born on August 8th, 2014 with a congenital heart defect due to his Chromosome 22 deletion. Anyone who has read this blog of late probably already knows that.

I applied for Maternity leave right after he was born, before we went to Edmonton for his first surgery. We were told that he would make us eligible for the Parent's of Critically Ill Children benefit because of his heart and the required surgeries. We were given the paperwork to fill out by the social worker and Roland dropped it off before he followed Dominic and me out to Edmonton. We received our first payments on September 10th. At the end of October Roland asked me when I was supposed to be getting paid by EI again because our bank account seemed a bit lower than it aught to have been. I looked into it and thought I should have been paid the week prior, but figured it was just a delay because of a random holiday or something. Between coming back after Dominic's failed Cath procedure and going back for his second surgery I called EI to see what the deal was. Apparently the initial forms filled out by the doctors only expected Dominic to be critically ill until a month after his surgery, September 13th, but with all of his complications his recovery went on longer. We weren't even back from Edmonton on the 13th of September. I was told I just had to get a doctor to fill out another form for the time afterward until after he aught to be recovered from his 2nd surgery in order to get it extended. We got all of that filled out in Edmonton after his surgery and sent it off as soon as we got back to Saskatoon (we would have gone to the Office there, but Dominic's recovery was so speedy we didn't have time!). In December we got a letter stating that we had been denied because there was an additional form we hadn't filled out. I figured, that considering we had already gotten about 5 weeks of PoCIC benefits this must have been an oversight. I tried calling Service Canada, but always got a recorded "Due to high call volume, your call cannot be transferred" message. I called about 100 times before xmas before I gave up and just took the form that we hadn't filled out to the Service Canada office and got it filed anyway on New Years Eve. On the 14th of January I started calling again having not heard anything and still not getting paid. I didn't get to have my call transferred to the hold list (45 minute wait!) until January 26th, when I was told that the paperwork had not arrived from Saskatoon yet. I faxed it that night, and then got a letter in the mail dated January 27th that we had been approved for 25 weeks of PoCIC.

Great! I thought. Now we just have to wait for them to pay us the 8 grand that they now owe us.

NOPE! Still waiting.

Called today at (8:30am this time!), got in the queue the first try, but over an hour wait on hold at first, talked to a guy and told him my situation, got put on hold for another 20 minutes and then got told that my claim is being "dealt with" and "changing it from Maternity to Parents of Critically Ill Children isn't an easy process", but our case is urgent so someone is going to call me back tomorrow... supposedly...

One would think that they would do all they could to make this easier when a child with health issues is involved, but this has been an absolute nightmare. I'm hoping all of this will be worth it when I get my extra 25 weeks off before having to head back to work, but now I am worried someone is going to tell me that I don't get that additional time and none of this has been worth anything. I should have just stayed with regular mat leave and not gotten greedy with my attempts to stay at home with my son (and daughter, but officially, it's just for Dominic)

Ever since I started having problems with EI my Dad has told me to email or call our MLA, but she's a Conservative and I doubt she will want to do anything for me. I'd be more likely to be berated for not returning to work the minute after I popped him out.

I feel like the way this system is running with us isn't how it should be handled. I don't think that a parent that has a million other worries because their child is critically ill should have to fight to get through on the phone and have to fight to get payment that they are entitled to. This is bullshit and I am totally sick of fighting. I hope to god that this is dealt with by tomorrow, because I have seriously had enough.

(P.S. I PROMISE, I do have a Dominic update about 90% complete, but I haven't had time to finish it. I swear it's coming! I promise by the end of the weekend it will be up!)