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Introduction
[1] The Respondent denied the Appellant’s application for benefits at the initial level and on January 10, 2017 denied the application at the reconsideration level. The Appellant appealed that decision to the Social Security Tribunal (Tribunal) on February 20, 2019.
Issue
[2] The Tribunal must decide whether the appeal was brought in time.
The law
[3] Under subsection 52(2) of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act (DESD Act), in no case may an appeal be brought to the General Division of the Tribunal more than one year after the day on which the Respondent’s reconsideration decision was communicated to the Appellant.
Submissions/evidence
[4] The Appellant was advised in the reconsideration letter that his recourse if he disagreed with the decision was to appeal it to the Tribunal. The address for the Tribunal was provided.
[5] The Appellant contacted the Tribunal in August, September and December 2017. These contacts were in response to a letter sent from the Tribunal outlining the pieces of information that were still required to complete the appeal. The appeal was complete in February 2019.
[6] The Tribunal also spoke with the Appellants representative in December 29017 and August 2018 about the information required by the Tribunal.
Analysis
[7] The Tribunal assumes that the reconsideration decision was sent to the Appellant by mail. The Tribunal takes judicial notice of the fact that mail in Canada is usually received within 10 days. The Tribunal therefore finds it is reasonable to determine that the reconsideration decision was communicated to the Appellant by January 20, 2017.
[8] The Appellant has not indicated at any point that he did not receive the reconsideration decision.
[9] In making this decision, I considered whether paragraph 3(1)(b) of the Social Security Tribunal Regulations (the “Regulations”) might assist the Appellant. That provision allows the Tribunal to dispense a party from compliance with any provision of the Regulations, if there are “special circumstances”. While that provision might assist a claimant who files an incomplete appeal with the Tribunal prior to the end of the one-year appeal period, it does not help the Appellant in this case.
[10] It is clear to me that the Appellant had the appropriate information on the steps necessary to file an appeal and had received the reconsideration decision.
[11] The Tribunal finds that the Appellant brought the appeal to the General Division of the Tribunal more than one year after the decision was communicated to the Appellant. The Tribunal must apply subsection 52(2) of the DESD Act ,which clearly states that in no case may an appeal be brought more than one year after the reconsideration decision was communicated to the Appellant.
Conclusion
[12] The appeal to the General Division of the Tribunal was not brought in time and therefore will not proceed.