Employment Insurance (EI)

Decision and Reasons

Decision

[1] Based on the agreement of the parties, I am granting leave to appeal in this case. I am also allowing the appeal and sending the matter back to the General Division for reconsideration, with directions.

Analysis

[2] The Claimant, J. W., applied for Employment Insurance regular benefits in September 2019. However, the Canada Employment Insurance Commission decided that she was disqualified from receiving those benefits.

[3] The Claimant appealed the Commission’s decision to the Tribunal’s General Division. The General Division invited the parties to a hearing on January 30, 2020, and made its decision later the same day.^{Footnote 1}

[4] For reasons the Claimant has explained, however, she never received the Notice of Hearing that the General Division had sent to her.^{Footnote 2} As a result, the Claimant could not participate in the hearing, even though she had information that she wanted to share with the Tribunal. So, the Claimant appealed the General Division decision to the Tribunal’s Appeal Division.

[5] In the circumstances, I invited the parties to a settlement conference. During the settlement conference, the parties agreed on the following:

1. The General Division acted unfairly by not giving the Claimant proper notice of the hearing;^{Footnote 3}
2. I should grant leave to appeal, allow the appeal, and send the file back to the General Division for reconsideration; and
3. The General Division decision dated January 30, 2020, should be removed from the file before its assignment to a different Tribunal member.

[6] Based on the information available to me, I am satisfied that I should grant leave to appeal and allow the appeal in line with the agreement reached by the parties at the April 9, 2020, settlement conference.