The Wage Earner Protection Program

General Information

Institution:

Employment and Social Development Canada -- Labour Program

Country:

Canada

Contact person:

Judith Buchanan

Position:

Director, Labour Standards and Wage Earner Protection Program

Email:

judith.buchanan@labour-travail.gc.ca

Phone:

819-654-4362

Website of the program:

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/wage-earner-prot…

Which of the following topic(s) applies to the program?:

Topics:

LABOR

Salaries

EMPLOYMENT

Unemployment benefit schemes

Program Description

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Description:

The Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP) provides payment to workers owed wages, vacation, termination and severence when their employer files for bankruptcy or become subject to a receivership. Once a payment is made, the right to collect on the unpaid wage debt is transfered to the Government of Canada for the amount paid to the worker, up to $3,977. Since the program became operational in July 2008, over 110,000 workers have received a payment from WEPP.

Objectives:

The main objective of the WEPP is to ensure the timely payment of workers who are owed wages, termination and severance pay if their employer files for bankruptcy or becomes subject to a receivership.

Year of Start:

Before 2010

Estimated duration:

Undefined

Geographic coverage:

National

Target population:

Workers

Unemployed

Evaluation and Documentation

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Describe the program's most important achievements and lessons learned:

In 2015, an evaluation of the WEPP was tabled in both houses of the Parliament of Canada. The report indicated that the WEPP is functioning well, with a few areas of improvement, including the trustee payment scheme, and potential systems changes. A PDF of this report is available here: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/edsc-esdc/Em8-11-2...

Specify if the program has any internal and external evaluations, if applicable, include key findings:

In 2014, an internal evaluation of the program was conducted --see document below.

Documents:

Evaluation of the Wage Earner Protect Program_internal.pdf

Five year review of the WEPP to Parliament.pdf