P A R T C D e c i s i o n u n d e r A p p e a l T h e d e c i s i o n u n d e r a p p e a l i s t h e M i n i s t ry o f S o c i a l D r e c o n s i d e r a t i o n d e c i s i o n d a t e d F e b r u a r y 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 , w d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e a s a s o l e r e c i p i e n t a s t h e M i n i s t a d e p e n d e n c y r e l a t i o n s h i p d u r i n g t h e m o n t h s o f D e c A p p e l l a n t i s r e q u i r e d t o r e p a y h e r a s s i s t a n c e f o r t h o s P A R T D R e l e v a n t L e g i s l a t i o n E m p l o y m e n t a n d A s s i s t a n c e f o r P e r s o n s w i t h D i s a b i E M T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )e v e l o p m e n t a n d S o c i a l I n n o v a t i o n ' s ( M i n i s t r y ) h i c h h e l d t h a t t h e A p p e l l a n t w a s n o t e l i g i b l e f o r ry d e t e r m i n e d t h a t t h e A p p e l l a n t w a s r e s i d i n g i n e m b e r 2 0 1 3 a n d J a n u a r y 2 0 1 4 , a n d t h u s t h e e m o n t h s . l i t i e s A c t ( E A P W D A ) S e c t i o n 1 , 1 . 1 , 3 , 1 8 .
PART E -S um m a rv of Facts Th e evidence befor e t he Mi nister at reconside ration • A shel t er information form, st amped receive d by t the Ap pe ll an t was p aying $5 00 pe r mo nth in re nt l a n d l o r d. • A BC Assessmen t Roll Report, dated January 15, 2014, show alle ged dependant are co-owners of the house in which they were living du and January 201 4. • A Land Title Act Form A, dated January 15, 2014, show bot h th e Appel lant and her alleged dependant. • A Land Title Act Form B, dated January 15, 2014, l as bo r rowers (mortga g o r s ) f o r the prop e rt y in w h • A letter f rom the Minist ry t o t he Appellant, dated J Appellan t 's assistance had been completed and the Appellant w parent for December 20 13 an d Janua ry 2014 b eca Appe l lant wa s living i n a ma rriage-lik e and dep endent of t his re lation s h ip was : co-ownershi p of a ho m e, the Appell an t and her alle ged depen dant co ntr ibute t all eged dep endant is t he b i o l o gi cal fathe r o f the A • An overpay men t ch art, dated J a n uary 16 , 2 01 4, sho 2013 and J anuary 2014. • A two-page letter, undate d , f ro m th e Appe ll ant stating inac cur ate about he r rel a t io n ship wit h he r alle g e d dep endant were g oi n g th rough hardships at th e ti ab le to ma ke things work a s a fa mily. A coupl e of days all eged depen d an t, she c ontacted the Min i s t ry. S questions and was told th at J anu ary w oul d b e the l s tate s t hat she was unaware t hat her nam ew as going to be on o verpay m ent is th e re s u lt of a mis c o mmunicatio n she understa nds th a t it is her resp onsibility to be open has worked hard t o make a goo d life for herself and her child. The Appellant states that she has no way of pa yin g the mon ey bac k and does not t hink t shoulders; it wa s never he r int ention to mi s use he Wit h the Notice of A ppeal, da ted F ebruary 19, 2014 , summ a rizin g her response to the reconsidera tion decision. The always been honest about her relationship with her alleged dependant. She states telepho n e call with a Mini s try worker, she was told that she was OK to receive ass January 2014 because she was not in a common-law relationship as they had not been living togethe r for six months. The Appellant argues that she did not know that if you owned a home with someone, that was like a marriage -she state s that many people own homes together that are not married and all income is separate. The Appellant acknowledges that she and her alleged dependant have a child together and that they own a home toget home). She denies that they share financial inter-dependency or present as a family unit to the community. She states that she was not asked if her name was on the title of the home and the miscommunication should not lie on her shoulders. The Annellant states that she did not falsely EAAT 003(10/06/01) consisted of the followin g: he Ministr y on Dece m be r 20, 2013, s howing t hat to her a lleged dependa nt , who is listed as the ing that the Appel lant and her ri ng December 201 3 ing that the prop e rty was transf erred to isting the Appel lant a nd her alleged de p e nda nt i ch they w ere l i ving. an u ary 16, 2014, stati n g that a review of the as f o und ine l igible as a s ing le use th e Ministry had evi d enc e th a t th e re la tionship. The evi de nce cite d i n su ppor t verbal c o n fir mation from the Ap pellant t h at both o the s helter e x pe nses, and the A ppell ant' s ppell ant' s child . wing ov e rpay men t amounts for Decemb er that she was unaware that she was bei n g dependan t . She states that she and h er allege d me and did not know if t h ey were going to b e a ft er th e Ap pe llant moved in with her he sta t es t hat she a n s wered al l of the M inistry's a st m ont h of h e r a ss ista nce. The A pp el la n t the ti tle of the h o me an d the wi th the Ministry. T h e A p pellant stre s ses that and honest with th e Mini s t ry an d that she h at the p ayment should fall on her r as sistance. t he Appellant s ubmitted a th ree-page let ter Appellant reiterates that she has that, in a istance until her (although she did not pay any money for the re
declare her re l ations hip statu s and has worked ha r d assistance for December and January would be a financia cover the cos t. At the hearing, the A ppellant p rovided evid e nce that she feels th misu nderstanding. She argues that she has been hone b y what t h e Min istry w ork er t old her in Novem b e r -that her d di scon tinued in January 2014. It did not occur to the Appella coo wner of a h o me because she had not put any money The pane l dete rmined that the additional oral a nd document Sect ion 22(4) of the EAA as it was in support of the rec because it provid e s evidence of the r elationsh ip between the Appel dur i ng D ecem b er 2013 and January 2 0 14. EAAT003(10/06/01) to g e t h er life back on tr ack. Having t o repay her l burden and her alleged dependant w ill not is decision is based on a st abou t her relationsh ip and tha t she is g oi ng isability assis tance wo u l d be nt to inform the Mini stry that she was a into the purchase . ary e vidence wa s a d mi ssible under ords before the Minist er at reconsid eration lant and her alleged depen d an t
P A R T F R e a s o n s f o r P a n e l D e c i s i o n T h e i s s u e i s w h e t h e r t h e M i n i s t ry ' s d e c i s i o n t o f i n d t h e A p p e l l a n t i n e l i g i b l e u n d e r S e c t i o n 3 o f t h e E A P W D A a s a s o l e r e c i p i e n t f o r a s s i s t a n c e d u r i n g D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3 a n d J a n u a r y 2 0 1 4 b e c a u s e s h e w a s r e s i d i n g i n d e p e n d e n c y r e l a t i o n s h i p u n d e r S e c t i o n 1 o f t h e E A P W D A i s r e a s o n a b l y s u p p o rt e d b y t h e e v i d e n c e . T h e l e g i s l a t i o n p r o v i d e s t h e f o l l o w i n g : I n t e r p r e t a t i o n 1 ( 1 ) I n t h i s A c t : " a p p l i c a n t " m e a n s t h e p e r s o n i n a f a m i l y u n i t w h o a p p l i e s u n d e r t h i s A c t f o r d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e , h a r d s h i p a s s i s t a n c e o r a s u p p l e m e n t o n b e h a l f o f t h e f a m i l y u n i t , a n d i n c l u d e s ( a ) t h e p e r s o n ' s s p o u s e , i f t h e s p o u s e i s a d e p e n d a n t , a n d ( b ) t h e p e r s o n ' s a d u l t d e p e n d a n t s ; " b u s i n e s s d a y " m e a n s a d a y o t h e r t h a n S a t u r d a y o r a h o l i d a y ; " c h i l d " m e a n s a n u n m a r r i e d p e r s o n u n d e r 1 9 y e a r s o f a g e ; " d e p e n d a n t " , i n r e l a t i o n t o a p e r s o n , m e a n s a n y o n e w h o r e s i d e s w i t h t h e p e r s o n a n d w h o ( a ) i s t h e s p o u s e o f t h e p e r s o n , ( b ) i s a d e p e n d e n t c h i l d o f t h e p e r s o n , o r ( c ) i n d i c a t e s a p a r e n t a l r o l e f o r t h e p e r s o n ' s d e p e n d e n t c h i l d ; ( B . C . R e g . 1 3 1 / 2 0 1 2 ) ( B . C . R e g . 1 9 3 / 2 0 0 6 ) " d e p e n d e n t c h i l d " , w i t h r e s p e c t t o a p a r e n t , m e a n s a c h i l d , o t h e r t h a n a c h i l d w h o i s 1 8 y e a r s o f a g e a n d i s a p e r s o n w i t h d i s a b i l i t i e s , w h o r e s i d e s i n t h e p a r e n t ' s p l a c e o f r e s i d e n c e f o r m o r e t h a n 5 0 % o f e a c h m o n t h a n d r e l i e s o n t h a t p a r e n t f o r t h e n e c e s s i t i e s o f l i f e , a n d i n c l u d e s a c h i l d i n c i r c u m s t a n c e s p r e s c r i b e d u n d e r s u b s e c t i o n ( 2 ) ; " d e p e n d e n t y o u t h " m e a n s a d e p e n d e n t c h i l d w h o h a s r e a c h e d 1 6 y e a r s o f a g e ; " d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e " m e a n s a n a m o u n t f o r s h e l t e r a n d s u p p o r t p r o v i d e d u n d e r s e c t i o n 5 [ d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e a n d s u p p l e m e n t s ]; " e m p l o y m e n t p l a n " m e a n s a p l a n r e q u i r e d u n d e r s e c t i o n 9 [ e m p l o y m e n t p l a n ] a n d i n c l u d e s a n a m e n d e d e m p l o y m e n t p l a n ; " f a m i l y u n i t " m e a n s a n a p p l i c a n t o r a r e c i p i e n t a n d h i s o r h e r d e p e n d a n t s ; " f o r m e r A c t " m e a n s ( a ) t h e D i s a b i l i t y B e n e f i t s P r o g r a m A c t , o r E AA T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )
( b ) t h e B C B e n e f i t s ( I n c o m e A s s i s t a n c e ) A c t , " h a r d s h i p a s s i s t a n c e " m e a n s a n a m o u n t f o r s h e l t e r a n d s u p p o r t p r o v i d e d u n d e r s e c t i o n 6 ( 1 ) [ h a r d s h i p a s s i s t a n c e ]; " p e r s o n w i t h d i s a b i l i t i e s " m e a n s a p e r s o n d e s i g n a t e d u n d e r s e c t i o n 2 [ p e r s o n s w i t h d i s a b i l i t i e s ]; " r e c i p i e n t " m e a n s t h e p e r s o n i n a f a m i l y u n i t t o o r f o r w h o m d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e , h a r d s h i p a s s i s t a n c e o r a s u p p l e m e n t i s p r o v i d e d u n d e r t h i s A c t f o r t h e u s e o r b e n e f i t o f s o m e o n e i n t h e f a m i l y u n i t , a n d i n c l u d e s ( a ) t h e p e r s o n ' s s p o u s e , i i t h e s p o u s e i s a d e p e n d a n t , a n d ( b ) t h e p e r s o n ' s a d u l t d e p e n d a n t s ; " s p o u s e " h a s t h e m e a n i n g i n s e c t i o n 1 . 1 ; " s u p p l e m e n t " m e a n s a n y f o r m o f f! S S i s t a n c e s p e c i f i e d b y r e g u l a t i o n , o t h e r t h a n d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e , h a r d s h i p a s s i s t a n c e o r f i n a n c i a l a s s i s t a n c e p r o v i d e d u n d e r s e c t i o n 7 [ f i n a n c i a l a s s i s t a n c e t o s e tv i c e o r p r o g r a m p r o v i d e r s ] a n d , w i t h o u t l i m i t a t i o n , i n c l u d e s a c c e s s t o p r o g r a m s e s t a b l i s h e d o r f u n d e d u n d e r t h i s A c t ; " t r i b u n a l " m e a n s t h e E m p l o y m e n t a n d A s s i s t a n c e A p p e a l T r i b u n a l e s t a b l i s h e d u n d e r s e c t i o n 1 9 o f t h e E m p l o y m e n t a n d A s s i s t a n c e A c t . ( 2 ) T h e L i e u t e n a n t G o v e r n o r i n C o u n c i l m a y p r e s c r i b e o t h e r c i r c u m s t a n c e s i n w h i c h a c h i l d i s a d e p e n d e n t c h i l d o f a p a r e n t f o r t h e p u r p o s e s o f t h i s A c t ( 3 ) F o r t h e p u r p o s e o f t h e d e f i n i t i o n o f " d e p e n d a n t " , s p o u s e s d o n o t r e s i d e a p a r t b y r e a s o n o n l y t h a t a s p o u s e i s e m p l o y e d o r s e l l e m p l o y e d i n a p o s i t i o n t h a t r e q u i r e s t h e s p o u s e t o b e a w a y f r o m t h e r e s i d e n c e o f t h e f a m i l y u n i t f o r p e r i o d s l o n g e r t h a n a d a y . ( B . C . R e g . 1 9 3 / 2 0 0 6 ) M e a n i n g o f " s p o u s e " 1 . 1 ( 1 ) T w o p e r s o n s , i n c l u d i n g p e r s o n s o f t h e s a m e g e n d e r , a r e s p o u s e s o f e a c h o t h e r f o r t h e p u r p o s e s o f t h i s A c t i i ( a ) t h e y a r e m a r r i e d t o e a c h o t h e r , o r ( b ) t h e y a c k n o w l e d g e t o t h e m i n i s t e r t h a t t h e y a r e r e s i d i n g t o g e t h e r i n a m a r r i a g e l i k e r e l a t i o n s h i p . ( 2 ) T w o p e r s o n s w h o r e s i d e t o g e t h e r , i n c l u d i n g p e r s o n s o f t h e s a m e g e n d e r , a r e s p o u s e s o f e a c h o t h e r f o r t h e p u r p o s e s o f t h i s A c t i i ( a ) t h e y h a v e r e s i d e d t o g e t h e r f o r a t l e a s t ( i ) t h e p r e v i o u s 3 c o n s e c u t i v e m o n t h s , o r ( i i ) 9 o f t h e p r e v i o u s 1 2 m o n t h s , a n d ( b ) t h e m i n i s t e r i s s a t i s f i e d t h a t t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p d e m o n s t r a t e s E AA T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )
·(i) financial dependence or interdependence, and (ii) social and familial interdependence, consistent with a marriage-like relationship. (B.C Reg. 193/2006) Eligibility of family unit 3 For the purposes of this Act, a family unit is eligible, in relation to disability assistance, hardship assistance or a supplement, if (a) each person in the family unit on whose account the disability assistance, hardship assistance or supplement is provided satisfies the initial and continuing conditions of eligibility established under this Act and the regulations, and (b) the family unit has not been declared ineligible for the disability assistance, hardship assistance or supplement under this Act or the regulations. Overpayments 18 (1) If disability assistance, hardship assistance or a supplement is provided to or for a family unit that is not eligible for it, recipients who are members of the family unit during the period for which the overpayment is provided are liable to repay to the government the amount or value of the overpayment provided for that period. (2) The minister's decision about the amount a person is liable to repay under subsection (1) is not appealable under section 16 (3) [reconsideration and appeal rights]. The Ministry argues that the Appellant is living with a person who satisfies the legislative definition of a dependant and under Section 1 and all but one of legislative criteria in the definition of a spouse under Section 1.1 of the EAPWDA. The Ministry argued that the Appellant and the Appellant's alleged dependant show financial dependence or interdependence as they jointly own an asset (their home), they show social and familial interdependence as they present as a couple and have a child together. The Ministry argued that it does not matter if there was a miscommunication, the Appellant is still ineligible for assistance as a sole recipient because she was residing in a dependency relationship during December 2013 and January 2014. The Appellant argues that she has been honest with the Ministry and answered all of the questions that she was asked during her contact with the Ministry. She argues that she didn't know that she should tell the Ministry that her name was on the title of the property and that she didn't think that her alleged dependant was a common law partner as they had been living together only since November 2013. The Appellant argues that the Ministry worker told her that she would receive assistance until January 2014 and so she didn't worry about it further. The panel finds that the Appellant's alleged dependant meets the definition of a "dependant" under Section 1 of the EAPWDA as he is the biological father of her child, they jointly own a home, and they both contribute to the cost of the property that they share with their child. The panel therefore finds EAAT 003(10/06/01)
t h a t t h e e v i d e n c e i n d i c a t e s a p a r e n t a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y A p p e l l a n t ' s d e p e n d e n t c h i l d a n d t h a t t h e A p p e l l a n t a T h e p a n e l t h e r e f o r e f i n d s t h a t t h e M i n i s t r y ' s d e c i s i o n c o n f i r m s t h e M i n i s t r y ' s d e c i s i o n . E M T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )b y t h e A p p e l l a n t ' s a l l e g e d d e p e n d a n t f o r t h e n d t h e c h i l d ' s f a t h e r r e s i d e t o g e t h e r . w a s r e a s o n a b l y s u p p o r t e d b y t h e e v i d e n c e a n d
You are being directed to the most recent version of the statute which may not be the version considered at the time of the judgment.