OTTAWA—The Harper government acknowledged it had made mistake with its Employment Insurance reforms and moved to alter a measure that was penalizing low-income Canadians holding part-time jobs while collecting EI.

The three-year Working While on Claim pilot program implemented in August was meant to encourage out-of-work Canadians to seek employment, even part-time positions. But opposition MPs have hammered the government over the measure, saying it unfairly punishes those who work at low-paying, part-time jobs by clawing back their employment benefits.

“Concerns have been raised regarding the new EI Working While on Claim pilot project,” Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said in a press release Friday. “We have listened to those concerns and today I am announcing our intent to make adjustments to the new pilot program.”

Finley announced that EI recipients will be given the option of having their claim handled under the rules that were in effect before the pilot project went into effect in August.

The Conservative government has been fielding complaints that under the new system, some EI claimants who work part time are winding up with less pay than under the old rules, a situation critics say is unjust and a disincentive for jobless Canadians to supplement their income with part-time work.

Under the old system before August, EI claimants who worked part-time could earn up to 40 per cent of their weekly EI benefits or $75, whichever was larger, without affecting their benefits. But if their weekly earnings surpassed the 40-per-cent “cap” the government clawed back each dollar of those extra earnings from the claimant’s EI benefits.

With the new rules, the clawback is only 50 cents for each dollar but, in an important difference, there is no “cap.” The clawback begins at the first dollar earned by the claimant. Critics said this meant claimants at the low end of the wage scale were ending up with less money.

Finley said Friday that EI recipients who worked while receiving benefits between Aug. 7, 2011 and Aug. 4, 2012 will have the option to being processed under the old system, retroactive until Aug. 5, 2012 — the date the new program began. As of January, claimants can opt to be handled under the old or new payment system. Claimants were asked to contact Service Canada for details.

The decision, which has been under consideration for weeks, was slipped out late on Friday before the long holiday weekend, a tactic sometimes used by governments seeking to limit public awareness of a controversial decision.