Canada Pension Plan (CPP) disability

Decision

[1] The Claimant’s application to rescind or amend the December 21, 2018 decision of the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal (the Tribunal) was not brought in time and cannot proceed.

Overview

[2] This application involves a request to rescind or amend a decision of the Tribunal. In a decision dated December 21, 2018, the Tribunal found that the Claimant ceased to be disabled under the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) in March 2015. This decision meant that the Claimant had to repay the Minister of Employment and Social Development (the Minister) money for disability benefits that he had received.

[3] Section 66 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act (the “DESD Act”) permits the Tribunal to rescind or amend a decision given by it in relation to the CPP if a new material fact is presented that could not have been discovered at the time of the hearing with the exercise of reasonable diligence.^{Footnote 1} However, an application to rescind or amend a decision of the Tribunal must be made within one year after the day on which a decision is communicated to a claimant.^{Footnote 2}

[4] The Tribunal does not have any discretion to hear an application to rescind or amend a decision if the claimant brings the application outside the one-year period allowed under the DESD Act.^{Footnote 3}

[5] The Claimant’s application to rescind or amend states that he received the Tribunal’s decision on December 21, 2018.^{Footnote 4} The Tribunal did not receive his application to rescind or amend the Tribunal until December 6, 2020. The Claimant filed his application outside the one-year period set out in the DESD Act.

[6] The Tribunal records show that it mailed the decision to the Claimant on December 24, 2018. It is unlikely that the Claimant would have received the decision on December 24, 2018. It would be appropriate to apply the deeming provision under section 19 of the Social Security Tribunal Regulations (the Regulations) and deem the decision to have been communicated to the Claimant ten days after the date on which it was mailed to him. In this case, that would have been on January 3, 2019. Even when using the deeming provisions under the Regulations, the application was filed outside the one year period from the date the decision was communicated to the Claimant.

[7] I find that the Claimant brought his application rescind or amend the decision of the Tribunal more than one year after the decision was communicated. This means that his application cannot proceed.

Conclusion

[8] The Claimant’s application to rescind or amend the December 21, 2018 decision of the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal is refused because it was filed late.