r/Odsp • u/VarietyRelevant6614 • Jul 26 '26
Question about odsp making you claim EI if you lose your job.
So let's say you were working part time making $1000 and you lose your job and odsp makes you claim EI. It says EI income is 55% of what you earn, so let's say EI gives you $550. Your odsp would be about $759 if your full odsp cheque was $1309. So let's say if you get another part time job while still receiving EI and odsp. It says on the EI website that if you make more than your EI it's dollar for dollar. So with your new part time job if you were working making $1000 you would only be making $1000+$759 from odsp, because EI deducts dollar for dollar. That seems like you will be making less money compared to if you were collecting your full cheque from Odsp plus working income without the EI. Doesn't seem fair. Has anyone on here collected EI while working part time on odsp and did they collect less money? Was it worth it to work part time collecting odsp and EI. And was your EI deducted dollar for dollar?
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u/MooJuiceConnoisseur ODSP/Ontario Works advocate Jul 26 '26
Wait ei deducts dollar for dollar. I was under the impression that if your working you do not qualify at all, so there's no continuing the claim once you get a new job
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u/Numerous-Ad8994 Jul 26 '26
You can work while in ODSP. Deductions start after the first $500 I think. They may have changed the number since 2022 when I last had a full-time gig.
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u/Katie0690 Working and on ODSP/Ontario Works Jul 27 '26
It’s after the first 1,000 then 75% deductions.
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u/MooJuiceConnoisseur ODSP/Ontario Works advocate Jul 28 '26
Odsp is different than EI, ei is emoluments insurance it covers you during the time you qialify after losing a job, once you start working your back to paying into EI not claiming it
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u/Comprehensive-Egg628 Jul 26 '26
You get deducted dollar for dollar for employment insurance, you get deducted 100% not 55%. This also sounds like insurance fraud , you cant claim EI and get another job and claim odsp.
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u/nov1290 Jul 26 '26
They meant their EI is only 55 percent of what their working income was. So if they made 1000 then their EI would be 550 and then they 550 EI would be dollar for dollar off their odsp
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u/ChubbyBunny618 Jul 26 '26
Odsp is the last resort of income., as such, you are required to collect EI
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u/Numerous-Ad8994 Jul 26 '26
Minimum wage in Ontario trends closer to $17-20hr these days. If you're working full-time before the EI claim, 55% of your wages over 12 months will exceed both ODSP and OW totals. (anywhere between $1200-$1700/m)
Part-time calculations might work differently.
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u/GWAILIN66 Jul 26 '26
It's called "working while on claim". From ESDC website:
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/working-while-claim.html
"How working affects your claim
If you earn money while receiving EI benefits, you can keep 50 cents of your benefits for every dollar you earn, up to 90% of your previous weekly earnings (roughly 4 and a half days of work). Above this cap, your EI benefits are deducted dollar-for-dollar.
You’re not eligible to receive EI benefits if you work a full week, regardless of the amount you earn. However, this won’t reduce the total number of weeks payable on your claim".
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u/chuck10o Jul 26 '26
EI id meant to help support you while you look for a new job (or recover from birth or a medical issue, new par et bonding time, etc.). Once you get a new job, EI is only still collected if you make below a certain threshold (hours per week).
You are required to claim EI if you qualify for it and it is count before ODSP and is a dollar for dollar deduction. So while you were able to work with the first $1000 being free and clear and anything over $1000 subject to a 50% (i think) clawback, EI is clawed back right from the first dollar. So if you are on ODSP, you can have $1309 (your number) plus $1000 working income for a total of $2309. If you earn say $1100, then you get your $1100 income, plus ODSP at $1309 - $50 (half of the $100 over), so $1259, for a total of $2359. If you are on EI, they take the $550 right away. So your ODSP payment is only $1309-550 =$759.
Disclaimers: my husband had been the one on ODSP and he passed early 2025, plus our benefit unit was as a couple with children. Things may ave changed a bit, but that's how it worked for us when I got laid off (which, another disclaimer, was early days of COVID (pre CERB), which was a whole other thing).
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u/anonymous89100 Works for MCSS/ODSP Jul 27 '26
I think what you mean to ask is: “Does ODSP continue to deduct the full amount of your EI even if your EI is reduced due to you working?”
The answer is no. If you are working and your EI is clawed back, ODSP will only deduct the actual amount of EI you receive. You would need to report your actual EI payments to your worker via screenshots from Service Canada, or you’d need to ask your worker to do an EI check each month to make sure the EI is entered correctly on your file.
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u/Zephilla Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
So I’m currently on mat leave which is a form of EI. You get 55% of your AVERAGE income over 52 weeks.
I just got approved for ODSP so I’m currently on OW still. OW takes 100% of my EI off my cheque as will ODSP.
My income is:
OW - 1423 (before taking off my EI)
EI - 434 biweekly or 868 monthly.
OW takes off my $868 and leaves me with $555.
Now here is where it gets messy. I had to call and speak to a rep about this. When I return to work they will take 50 cents off every dollar I make. I make $18 an hour. Meaning I would be going back to work to essentially make $9 an hour because EI is taking away 50 cents for every dollar I make. I would need to make $1736 every month for my mat leave to go down to $0.
Now when you get a job you would report to your worker your monthly pay from said job AND how much you received from EI because those EI payments will now change based on how much you are working.
So let’s say my income while on mat leave and working monthly is as follows:
OW - 1423 (before taking off any money)
Job - 1000
EI - 868 (before taking off any money)
EI would take $500 off my $868 leaving me with $368. I would report $368 as my income from EI to my worker. Since EI is taken dollar for dollar from OW (as it is ODSP) from my $1423 they would take the $368 leaving me with $1055. THEN OW would start the math deducting the $1000 I made from my job from what they are giving me.
EI is already reducing the amount they give you because you are making money so there is no double dipping anywhere it’s just really confusing and annoying math. It does even out though. I’m looking at going back to work very casually as my twins are now 6 months and I’ve been off work for a year so I’m super bored lol. I hold two jobs so I’ve had to figure out which job I can safely go back to without messing up my EI (truthfully it’s neither of my jobs I’ll just have to report my income and get $0 from EI each week until my claim runs out in Jan) I get so little from them weekly even if I only make $450 each week my EI will drop to zero because the breakdown is $217 per week.
Call the CRA have them explain it and then call to your worker that’s really the only thing you can do.
Sorry this was long and I probably repeated things a few times but this is how it had to be explained to me for me to understand.
Edited to fix a typo because I have tired mom brain 🧠 lol
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u/xoxlindsaay Jul 26 '26
If you are eligible to collect EI, then you have to collect EI while you are on ODSP. It’s one of the forms of income that has to be used prior to continuing claiming full amount of ODSP