Case information

Social law — Employment insurance — Decisions of lower court and tribunal finding that income replacement indemnity paid retroactively constitutes earnings — Calculation of amount of overpayment — Whether leave application raises questions of public importance — Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23 — Department of Employment and Social Development Act, S.C. 2005, c. 34 — Employment Insurance Regulations, SOR/96-332.

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In 2013, the applicant’s employment ended after he suffered psychological harassment, as confirmed in two decisions of Quebec’s Administrative Labour Tribunal. Further to that tribunal’s decision, the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (“CNESST”) paid the applicant a daily amount as an income replacement indemnity. After the applicant informed the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (“Commission”) of the receipt of the amounts in question, the Commission advised him that amounts received retroactively from the CNESST for the weeks during which he received employment insurance benefits constituted earnings and that he was therefore required to repay an overpayment amount. The General Division of the Social Security Tribunal confirmed that the Commission had properly sought that repayment from him. The Appeal Division of the Social Security Tribunal dismissed the applicant’s appeal. The applicant filed an application for judicial review with the Federal Court of Appeal, which held that the Appeal Division’s decision was reasonable except as regards an issue relating to a benefits overpayment amount, for which an additional sum had to be deducted from the overpayment.