I’m still waiting to hear from Alan, which should come by EOD, but I’ve done some research of my own and think that the answer is NO, you don’t need any formal agreements to recall employees–although you would need to complete an ROE for each employee on temporary layoff. Nothing in ESA suggests any such written agreement is required–in fact, it doesn’t even require notification of layoff the way many jurisdictions do.
When it comes to EI, I’m on much less firmer ground. However, I can suggest looking into Work Sharing, which allows you to recall employees at reduced hours–in essence, sharing the work and the layoff–without reducing their EI benefits. Absent Work Sharing, though, I believe that returning to work costs employees their eligibility for EI employment benefits. But again, this isn’t my expertise and I’m still awaiting word from somebody who knows this stuff way better than I do. To be continued. . .
