Hi all, looking for some quick help for my friend's situation (she doesn't use Reddit).
She was working at an English school and it suddenly went bankrupt in mid January. The school was doing regular pension, health insurance deductions. She went onto EI for a few months and got rehired by another school in April.
While on EI, she switched to the national health insurance and made payments for January, February and March. From April onwards, she switched back to company health insurance and pension. Regarding pension payments for January-March, she did not make them as money was tight.
The past week, she got some papers from the national pension service asking for back payments for January-March. Does she have to make these payments even though she was unemployed during this period? I think she has sorted some of her finances out and is able to make the payments, but does she have to? For health insurance, I understand that all residents (regardless of employment status) need it. But what about pension?
My apologies in advance if I sound like I am lacking some understanding about how the pension system works here. I think I can learn something from some of the knowledgeable users here. Thank you!
by Froyo_Muted