Employment Retention Bonus

Did you know that you can receive a $1,000 job maintenance bonus if you cease to benefit from the Social Assistance Program or the Social Solidarity Program and if you have held a full-time job for 12 consecutive months?

The $1,000 Job Retention Bonus may also be paid to you if you stop participating in the Aim for Employment Program because of your work income and have been employed on a full-time basis for 12 consecutive months.

Note that if you cease to benefit from one of these programs after March 31, 2023, you are not eligible for this measure.

The bonus may be paid to you if you meet the following conditions:

• you have been a beneficiary of the Social Assistance Program or the Social Solidarity Program or have participated in the Aim for Employment Program for at least 12 months in the 24 months before your benefits end;
• you have held a full-time job or jobs for 12 consecutive months;
• you ceased to be eligible for one of these programs no later than March 31, 2023, because of your employment income;
• you were not eligible for the Work Premium Supplement, a refundable tax credit paid by Revenu Québec, when you stopped receiving financial assistance under one of these programs;
• you are not attending an educational institution on a full-time basis during the period covered by the application;
• you are not participating in an active measure of the public employment services, with the exception of the Work Integration Contract measure or the Subsidy Program for Adapted Businesses;
• you have not already benefited from a job maintenance bonus.

To be eligible, your employment must meet the following conditions:

• be a full-time job, i.e. at least 30 hours per week, unless severe limitations to the job justify a reduced number of hours;
• be insurable employment within the meaning of the Employment Insurance Act;
• be employment that meets the minimum working conditions set out in the Act respecting labour standards and that is not likely to endanger your health and safety or harm your integrity.

Eleven months after ceasing to benefit from the Social Assistance Program, the Social Solidarity Program or the Aim for Employment Program because of your work income, you will automatically receive a letter and a form to apply for a job maintenance bonus.

You must then send us your application within 45 calendar days after the end date of the period in which you were employed for 12 months without interruption. Calendar days are defined as the days that follow each other, regardless of whether those days are statutory holidays, Saturdays or Sundays. Calendar days are from Sunday to Saturday, as opposed to working days, which are from Monday to Friday.

If you have any questions concerning the bonus, you can call your Services Québec office .