Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles Chapter 20 - Section 7

20.7.0 Limitations

20.7.1 Return of benefits by the claimant, the employer or other person – EIA 45 and 46

These are overpayments that are established when a claimant receives payments from an employer or another person, as a result of a labour arbitration award, court judgment or otherwise.

When this situation results in the debtor having to repay benefits, that overpayment cannot be written off, even if the benefits were received more than 12 months before the Commission notified the debtor of the overpayment. However, depending on the circumstances, other reasons for write-off may exist (EI Act 45 & EI Act 46).

20.7.2 Coincidental write-off and benefits payable

Reconsideration of a claim for a past period pursuant to EI Act 52, may result in an overpayment that could be written off. Conversely, additional benefits may become payable as a result of the reconsideration. Therefore, in situations where benefits would become payable, the recalculation of the claim must be completed first, to ensure additional benefits payable are applied to any resulting overpayment. Only then can the write-off of the overpayment be considered. What this means is that the adjudication will establish the amount of the benefits payable (if any), reduce the overpayment accordingly, and only then, where the conditions are met, write off any outstanding overpayment balance.

Any extension of the benefit period must be completed prior to the write-off of an overpayment to determine if additional weeks of benefits may be payable, which could reduce or eliminate the overpayment. Claimants must be contacted and advised of the possibility of additional weeks of benefits payable, and to obtain the necessary information to process any claimant’s reports.

[February 2019]