How ODSP deals with EI?

[bastetschylde]

I'm having a hard time with my research on this topic of how ODSP
deals with income from EI. Does ODSP claw back 100%? From what I've
read, it's "non-exempt" so I'm assuming that it means a clawback of
100%. So if my regular ODSP cheque is $1,200/month and I receive $800/
month from EI, then ODSP will only give me $400?

Also, doesn't EI affect your status with Employment Supports if you've
been receiving assistance? (I can also discuss this with PPRC during
my appointment with them tomorrow).

-B.C.

[wheelchairdemon]

Hi,

EI is clawed back 100%. If you get a mix of ODSP and EI, then you're
likely in better shape than I was, because at least you will have your
extended health care benefits covered.

One more thing to watch for is the timing of your EI cheque in relation
to your ODSP cheque. I can't remember the exact sequence now, but it was
something like:

An EI cheque is issued 3 business days after you do your income
reporting. This means if you do your income reporting toward the end of
a month (it's always on a Friday) and your cheque hits the bank on the
Monday of a new month, then ODSP will claw it back.

ODSP, on the other hand, gives you your cheque at the end of the month
you would be spending it in. (This logic still defies me).

I had to fight bloody blue murder to get a cheque from ODSP in the
transitional phase to get back on it after I lost my job. The logic I
used when I talked to them was, "just because this month happened to be
a bad timing month, and one where a timing situation like this would
happen only once in a blue moon, you're trying to tell me I have to live
without any money at all in the month of December? Do you not realize
that housing will be taking rent based on the income I will be [NOT]
getting from ODSP because your timing is different?" Give me the
money... and they did.

I share this story only so you know what bases to cover. I thought I'd
done all my homework too; talked to housing, ODSP, EI, the Community
Legal Clinic (which was no help at all), etc., and still I got majorly
caught.

It was this situation and the hunger that finally gave me a 9 day
"holiday" in the psych ward and I got the only decent psychiatrist I had
ever met. He told me to enjoy my 9 days of 3 square meals a day and then
he gave me full privileges so I could basically carry on life as
normal. I couldn't find 2009 figures for the cost of that hospital
stay, but by using 2006 numbers, I found out the 9 day bill to OHIP was
$7,218; all so I could eat and recover from the shock of so many
programs failing to work together.

I should add that one of the biggest things that led to the loss of my
job was the attitude of the employment supports worker that was paid for
by ODSP. She told my employer I was being too demanding about the shift
time accommodation, failed to negotiate me being included in the
employee training program at the same time as everyone else, and then
when I wrote her a letter to try to better educate her on the barriers I
was facing, went to ODSP and closed my file. I went to reopen it again
so I could quickly get someone to help salvage my job, and I discovered
that, when a file has been closed, it is mandatory to wait 1 year before
it could be re-opened again.

The employer was holding me back from the training session because I
couldn't fit in the cubicles to buddy-jack with a peer and be tested.
This was a load of bunk because I had done it before, but the employment
specialist hired by ODSP bowed down to the employer, refused to believe
me, and then disciplined me off to the side for "my demanding attitude."

Yes, I live in a wonderful, kind, and fair city.

Again, sorry for the stories, but I am determined to share them so that
others are forewarned and, ideally will be able to look at their own
situation and, if they see similarities, choose to take a solid stand to
deal with the issue in whatever way they can, but then talk about it -
remove names if you have to - but expose the abuse. That's my sole
purpose in all of these things.

I have no desire whatsoever to make someone feel sorry for me. I don't
feel sorry for myself and I refuse to be a victim. I sort out the mess
and I keep moving on. The only thing I won't do, is sweep the abuse
under the rug. The problems can't be fixed when that happens.

Louise

[Darren M]

When were you on ei?  before odsp?  when I was first on ow they knew I had been having a hard time getting my ei check.  I got hurt at work and the place I worked for filed my injury too late for workmens comp.  and the only other choice was ei.  They(old work) kept sending in the wrong papers and I should have had my first check in early august,  I got it in october.  and by that time I was on ow because I could not work and needed money.  i called my worker and said that I just got a check and do i need to pay half to ow?  she said no just cash them.  she said that all the checks were for I was on ow.  

[bastetschylde]

I finished a 9 month contract last Friday (and have been on ODSP the
whole time, with 50% clawbacks) and am doing research on EI/ODSP... I
want to be prepared for what it means.

Still need to get my ROE to ensure that I fit the requirements for EI.

-B.C.

[Louise]

Darren,

I lost the thread on this one so I don't know who you are asking this question of.

If it is me, then no, I was not on ODSP prior to going on EI. I had been working full time for 18 months and was fully off ODSP.

Thankfully I did not voluntarily withdraw from ODSP when I got the job; I worked lots of overtime so I could be properly migrated off, and that left the door open to go back on ODSP without filing a new application to get on it.

At issue was when the Employment Supports worker, who was paid for by ODSP (this can be done for anyone earning less than $50,000 a year to help with job retention), told my employer I was being too picky about the time of my shift in a business that was open 24/7. She didn't care about whether I could catch the bus to buy groceries before or after work, or the fact there is no grocery delivery service to bring the food to me, so the employer changed my shift and I was left with no choice but to quit the job so I could buy food to eat.

By this point, I was off work and on stress leave because of the effects of trying to deal with a 60-day access bus strike and limited access to an alternative form of wheelchair accessible transportation, the attitude of the employment specialist attitude paid for, for job retention, by from ODSP, and the doctor who refused to identify the sources of the stress in a medical for work so it could be fixed. It was too much to handle by myself so the stress got the better of me. I was an optimist and believed reason would prevail and a work-around to the barriers could be fixed, so I took the time off and applied for the EI Sick Benefits. Little did I know that I would have been better off to throw up my hands and just quit my job so I couldn't get EI and would have qualified to go right back on ODSP rapid reinstatement option that I had so carefully preserved by refusing to follow the advice to just voluntarily withdraw from the program.

Ei sick benefits does not get cut off if you are forced to quit your job, so ODSP made it mandatory to ride out the full 4 months of eligibility. I was getting $12 too little for ODSP to give me the extended medical coverage (they only look at income minus rent and special diet allowance; they don't count the cost of buying $100 worth of medical supplies)

I suppose some people get the help of a social worker, the community legal clinic or a good worker at ODSP, but I don't qualify for any of that. Consequently, I have had to learn things the hard way and cope with the stress, pain, and anxiety that has come up when I fail to correctly figure it all out.

What's even worse is, when you are broken down into a puddle of tears by the stress of it all, you get depressed and you reach out for help, you are told it is a situational depression for which no medication, psychiatrist, or intervention will help, nd then you are told to figure it all out on your own.

So far I'm managing, but how many others can? It's those people I worry about the most.

Louise