17. Request for reconsideration and de novo hearings

17.1 Request for reconsideration

In accordance with section 120 of the EI Act   Employment Insurance Act, a Board of Referees may rescind or amend a decision given in any particular claim for benefit if new facts are presented or if it is satisfied that the decision was given without knowledge of, or based on a mistake as to, some material fact.

A request for reconsideration by the Board may be necessary in the following instances:

• when an interested party submits new facts, or purported new facts, which in his or her opinion could influence the decision of the Board, and the interested party requests reconsideration;
  
  
• on the request of a party when there were multiple decisions appealed and the Board failed to deal with one (or more) of them at the first hearing;
  
  
• when the Umpire orders that a case be reheard by the same Board.

If a party decides to proceed with the reconsideration request to the Board of Referees, the appeal is to be rescheduled with the same Board that previously heard and decided the case. The Board will first have to decide whether the information constitutes new facts.

All parties to the appeal are advised of the date on which the Board of Referees will conduct their review of the information submitted, to comply with subsection 83(1) of the EI Regulations   Employment Insurance Regulations, which reads:

“A board of referees shall give each of the parties interested in an appeal a reasonable opportunity to make representations concerning any matter before the board.”

If the Board considers that there are no new facts, the request for reconsideration will be denied. If the Board is satisfied that new facts have been presented, it may rescind, maintain or amend its previous decision.

17.2 De novo hearings

In accordance with subsection 117(c) of the EI Act   Employment Insurance Act, an Umpire may refer the matter back to the Board of Referees for rehearing and redetermination.

Where the Umpire has directed that the case be heard anew (de novo), the Umpire will have:

• rescinded the original decision of the Board;
  
  
• ordered that the case be heard anew (de novo) by a differently constituted Board; and
  
  
• ordered the removal of the original decision from the appeal docket.

This process is intended to ensure that the appellant receives a fair and unbiased hearing by the newly constituted Board of Referees. Moreover, the Umpire may direct what issues should be examined by the Board.

A hearing de novo is not a rehearing as the case is to be heard anew, as though it had not been heard by any Board before.