Amal filed an appeal with the Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal (the Tribunal). She was concerned with a decision made by the Ministry of Children and Family Development about her eligibility for the Affordable Childcare Benefit. When she followed up with the Tribunal after not hearing anything for several months, Amal learned, unbeknownst to her, that a hearing had already occurred. Amal requested a re-hearing which was denied by the Tribunal.

Frustrated, Amal contacted us for assistance.

During our investigation, we reviewed records of several notices sent to Amal from the Tribunal about her case, including acknowledgement of receiving her complaint and notice about the hearing. While the Tribunal acted consistently with its obligations to provide Amal with notice of the scheduled hearing, we were concerned that by consenting to email communication, Amal was precluded from receiving other forms of communication from the Tribunal.

To resolve the matter, we recommended that the Tribunal update its Notice of Appeal form to include timelines and to make it clear that by consenting to email communications, complainants will not receive other forms of communication about the scheduling of hearings from the Tribunal.

Amal’s case highlighted the importance of the Tribunal clarifying this information for hearing participants to ensure they monitor their email to avoid missing important communications and to enable them to make informed decisions about their communication preferences. The Tribunal agreed and also proactively changed its practices to include phone and email reminders to complainants about scheduled hearings.

Amal’s complaint to our office led to service improvements that will result in fairer outcomes for others.