Can I still get benefits if I've been living with my partner for a year?

The situation

I am currently living in Canada and trying to figure out my situation regarding my recent job loss. I was laid off from my retail position on October 12th after working there for nearly two years. My employer has already processed my final pay cheque, which included my remaining holiday pay, but I am worried about my application for support. I have been living with my partner in our shared apartment since last June, so we have been cohabiting for about sixteen months now. We share all our household expenses and live together in a conjugal relationship, but we aren't legally married. I have already started filling out the online forms, but I am confused about how my living arrangement affects my eligibility. I am unsure if the government considers us a single household for the purpose of calculating what I am owed, or if my partner's income will impact my ability to receive regular payments. I want to make sure I don't accidentally claim too much and end up with a debt later on. Does my status as someone living with a partner for over a year change how they look at my claim?

Detailed Analysis

Under the Employment Insurance Act, your living arrangement is significant because of how the law defines a partner. The Act states that a "common-law partner, in relation to an individual, means a person who is cohabiting with the individual in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year"^[1]. A conjugal relationship is a relationship where two people live together as if they were married. Since you have lived with your partner in a shared apartment since June of last year (approximately sixteen months) and share household expenses in a conjugal relationship, you meet this specific legal definition^[1].

While the provided sections define who a common-law partner is, they do not explicitly state whether your partner's income will reduce your specific regular benefits or if you are treated as a single household for calculation purposes. The law defines the terms, but the specific math used to determine your payment amount is not contained in these sections. Because you are worried about accidentally claiming too much, you must be aware that the Commission uses these definitions to determine your status.

In short, the law recognizes you as having a partner because you have passed the one-year threshold of living together^[1]. Whether this partner's income impacts your individual claim is a matter of how the Commission applies these definitions to your specific financial situation, which is not detailed in the provided text. State, provincial, or local laws may add further rules regarding household income or social assistance; you should check with Service Canada for specific benefit calculation rules.

Statutory Citations

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