Employment Insurance Appeal Division: What happens after you start your appeal

1 – We send you a letter

If you sent us all the information we need, we’ll send you a letter to confirm we received your appeal. If you don’t receive a letter from us, contact us.

We’ll also send a copy of this letter to the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) and other parties in the appeal if there are any. The CEIC is a party in the appeal.

If there’s information missing that we need, we’ll send you a letter telling you what’s missing and giving you a deadline to send it to us.

2 – We let the Employment Insurance (EI) Board of Appeal know you’re appealing

If you’re appealing an EI Board of Appeal decision, we’ll let them know. We’ll ask them to send us their appeal file. Their appeal file will include all the documents they considered when making their decision.

The EI Board of Appeal isn’t a party to your appeal at the Appeal Division.

3 – We make sure everyone has all the documents

Throughout the appeal process we’ll make sure you and the CEIC have the same information. This means we’ll send you a copy of the documents the CEIC sends us, and we’ll send the CEIC a copy of the documents you send us.

If another person is involved in your appeal as a party, we’ll send them the same information too. For example, the employer may be added as a party at the EI Board of Appeal. That means they’ll be a party at the Appeal Division too.

We’ll number the documents “AD1,” “AD2,” and so on. We’ll add the document number and the page number to the bottom of each page. For example, this is page one of the first document in an appeal file:

To refer to a specific document when you contact us or during your hearing, you can mention the AD number at the bottom of the page. This way, everyone knows where the information is.

4 – We assign your appeal to a member

We’ll assign your appeal to an Appeal Division member. The member is the decision-maker in your appeal. They’ll make sure your appeal moves through the appeal process smoothly.

5 – The member may suggest alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a simple way of possibly resolving your appeal.

In ADR, an Appeal Division member leads a conversation between the parties to see whether your appeal can be resolved. A member will suggest ADR if they see a good chance of settling the issues. They may suggest this right at the start of your appeal or at a later stage.

If the member suggests ADR, we’ll invite you to an informal meeting. We’ll also invite the CEIC and other parties (if there are any) to the meeting.

We usually have the meeting by teleconference.

At the meeting, you’ll have a chance to:

ask questions about the issues that are most important to you
talk with the CEIC to try and resolve some of your differences

One of three things happens:

You might reach an agreement on all the issues. If this happens, the member will send you a decision based on the agreement, and you won’t have a hearing.
You might decide to withdraw (cancel) your appeal.
If you don’t reach an agreement, your appeal will continue through the regular appeal process.

You want to go through ADR, but you haven’t been invited

You can write us to ask for ADR if you think there’s a good chance you and the CEIC can reach an agreement about your appeal.

6 – You send us your arguments

After you send us your Notice of Appeal, we’ll send you a letter explaining the next steps and the deadline to send us your arguments. Usually, you’ll have 30 days.

Arguments express your point of view about why the Appeal Division should allow your appeal. Your arguments should explain the mistakes you think the EI Board of Appeal or the SST General Division made. They should say how you think the Appeal Division could fix any mistakes and what specific result you’re looking for.

If the Appeal Division agrees that the EI Board of Appeal or the SST General Division made a mistake, the Appeal Division will do one of two things:

make the decision the EI Board of Appeal or the SST General Division should have made (the result could be the same as or different from their decision)
send the file to the EI Board of Appeal to reconsider the decision

Don’t include new evidence with your arguments. Instead, refer to the evidence that the EI Board of Appeal or the SST General Division had. The Appeal Division can’t consider new evidence about your claim for benefits.

Send us your arguments in writing. They can be in any written format (for example, in an email or letter). Make sure you send us electronic documents in a format we can open.

We share your arguments with all the parties involved in your appeal.

7 – You have a hearing

Usually, the Appeal Division schedules your hearing after all parties have submitted their arguments.

We ask what type of hearing you want in your Notice of Appeal to the Appeal Division form.

If you have an oral hearing

We’ll send you a written Notice of Hearing. If you have a representative, they’ll get it too.

A Notice of Hearing gives you details about your hearing. For example, it says when and where the hearing is and the type of hearing (teleconference, videoconference or in person).

The member will make a decision after your hearing.

If your hearing is in writing

You might have your hearing in writing. We’ll tell you if this is going to happen.

Learn more about the different types of hearing and how to prepare for yours.

8 – Constitutional appeals

The appeal process will be different if your appeal is about a constitutional question (such as a challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms opens a new window ). There will be additional steps to take, and you’ll be allowed to provide evidence as well as arguments.

We’ll give you the information you need about this process at the right time.