Employment Insurance (EI)

Decision

[1] Permission (leave) to appeal is refused. The appeal won’t proceed.

Overview

[2] L. G. is the Claimant in this case. He stopped working in June 2021 for medical reasons. He then applied for Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits. The Canada Employment Insurance Commission (Commission) approved his application and paid him benefits for 15 weeks.

[3] The Claimant says that he is entitled to EI benefits—whether regular benefits or sickness benefits—for 50 weeks. But the Commission refused to pay him any more benefits.

[4] The Claimant appealed the Commission’s decision to the Tribunal’s General Division, but it dismissed his appeal. In short, the General Division made the following findings:

• The Claimant received 15 weeks of sickness benefits, which is the maximum number of weeks allowed under the law.^{Footnote 1}
• The Claimant isn’t entitled to EI regular benefits, since he is unable to work.^{Footnote 2}

[5] The Claimant now wants to appeal the General Division decision to the Appeal Division. Before the case can move forward, I must first decide whether to give permission to appeal.

[6] I find that the Claimant’s appeal has no reasonable chance of success. I have no choice, then, but to refuse permission to appeal.

Issue

[7] In this decision, the issue before me is this: Has the Claimant raised an arguable case that gives the appeal a reasonable chance of success?

Analysis

[8] Appeal Division files follow a two-step process. This appeal is at step one: permission to appeal.

[9] The legal test that the Claimant needs to meet at this step is low: Has he raised an arguable case that gives the appeal a reasonable chance of success?^{Footnote 3} If the appeal has no reasonable chance of success, then I must refuse permission to appeal.^{Footnote 4}

The appeal has no reasonable chance of success

[10] The Appeal Division can intervene in this case only if the General Division made an error under the law.^{Footnote 5}

[11] In his notice of appeal, the Claimant argued that the General Division had made an important error of fact. But he didn’t elaborate.

[12] So, the Tribunal asked the Claimant to explain in detail why he wanted to appeal the General Division decision.^{Footnote 6} The Claimant responded to the letter by providing X‑rays that show why he can’t work right now.

[13] In its decision, the General Division acknowledged that the Claimant is unable to work for medical reasons. That isn’t in dispute. It is very clear that the General Division made no error in this regard. As a result, this argument doesn’t give the appeal a reasonable chance of success. It is bound to fail.

[14] Regardless of this finding, I can’t just look at the specific ground of appeal that the Claimant has raised.^{Footnote 7} So, I have reviewed the documents on file and examined the decision under appeal. But I haven’t noted other reasons to give permission to appeal.

Conclusion

[15] I find that the Claimant’s appeal has no reasonable chance of success. I have no choice, then, but to refuse permission to appeal. This means that the appeal won’t proceed.