Employment Insurance (EI)

Decision

[1] The Tribunal grants leave to appeal, allows the appeal on the merits and refers the matter back to the General Division (Employment Insurance Section) for a new hearing by a new Member.

Introduction

[2] On June 20, 2014, the Tribunal’s General Division found that:

• - The Respondent was justified in not suspending the Applicant’s disentitlement to benefits under subsection 36(3) of the Employment Insurance Act (“the Act”).

[3] The Applicant filed an application for leave to appeal to the Appeal Division on July 18, 2014.

Issue

[4] The Tribunal must determine whether the appeal has a reasonable chance of success.

The law

[5] As stated in subsections 56(1) and 58(3) of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act, “[a]n appeal to the Appeal Division may only be brought if leave to appeal is granted” and the Appeal Division “must either grant or refuse leave to appeal”.

[6] Subsection 58(2) of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act provides that “[l]eave to appeal is refused if the Appeal Division is satisfied that the appeal has no reasonable chance of success”.

Analysis

[7] Under subsection 58(1) of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act, the only grounds of appeal are that:

1. (a) the Board of Referees failed to observe a principle of natural justice or otherwise acted beyond or refused to exercise its jurisdiction;
2. (b) the Board of Referees erred in law in making its decision or order, whether or not the error appears on the face of the record; or
3. (c) the Board of Referees based its decision or order on an erroneous finding of fact that it made in a perverse or capricious manner or without regard for the material before it.

[8] The Respondent acknowledges that there was a breach of the rule that there is a right to be heard (audi alteram partem rule), since the Applicant does not seem to have been informed of the date of his hearing before the General Division.

[9] The Respondent therefore has no objection to the application for leave to appeal or to the matter being referred back to the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal so the Applicant can be heard.

[10] Having regard to the arguments in support of the application for leave to appeal and to the Respondent’s position, the Tribunal agrees that the application for leave to appeal and the appeal should be allowed.

Conclusion

[11] The Tribunal grants leave to appeal, allows the appeal on the merits and refers the matter back to the General Division (Employment Insurance Section) for a new hearing by a new Member.

[12] The Tribunal orders that the General Division’s decision dated June 20, 2014, be removed from the file.