PART C-Decision under Appeal The decision under appeal is the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation (the "ministry") reconsideration decision dated July 30, 2014 which held the appellant was not eligible for a crisis supplement for her hydro bill as she did not meet the requirements of section 59 of the Employment Assistance Regulation (the "EAR"), namely that the appellant required the supplement to meet an unexpected expense or that the item was an item unexpectedly needed and she was unable to meet the expense or obtain the item because she had no resources available pursuant to subsection (1 )(a). PART D -Relevant Legislation Employment and Assistance Act, section 4; and Employment and Assistance Regulation, section 59. EAA T003(10/06/01)
PART E -Su mmarv of Fa cts The Appe ll a nt wa s no t in attendance at the hearing. hearing proceed ed under section 86(b) of the Employment and Assistance Regulation. The Appe l lan t is a recipient of dis ab i lity with no dependan The evidence before the Ministr y at recons i deration includ Employment and Assistance Reques t for Reconsideration dat attached document s: 1 . H y dro bill to app ell a nt dated June 16, 20 1 4 in the 2. Letter f r om h ydro com p any to the app e llant dated past due in the am o u n t of $287. The a pp el lant sub mitted t he f o llowin g w ritte n submi 1 . The ap pell ant is t ry ing fo r disab ili ty ass i s tance a nearby city; 2 . T h e a ppell a n t h ad to cance l he r app oi nt m en t a ff o r d to pa y f or gas o line t o hav e some one dr 3. The a ppell a n t had t o pa y $60 on o ne occas io 4. T h e appell a n t pa ys f or extra med ication e a ch mo 5. The appell a n t goes t o the doct o rs b y publi c t rans and then she goes t o get her p re s cri pt i on filled a N otic e o f App ea l date d Aug u st 1 1, 2014, the Appel lant 1 . T h e a pp el la nt's medic al condition is ongo i n g m on t h s " and she h as n eeded a l ot more me d 2 . The appe l lant has quit school a nd she r e ceiv ed her bill s ; 3. The appellant applied for transportation to the doctors and was denied; 4. The appel lant's migraines have got worse during the summer; 5. The appellant has woke up "throwing up " an d 6. The appellant in the last six months has been in the ER about 4-5 times a month; and 7 . The appellant requires more medic a t ion due to her fi she is required to pay for the me d ication. The Ministry did not submit additional evidence on appeal and relied on the Reconsideration Decision. The panel finds th a t the additional evidence provided by the appellant in the notice of appeal clarified her situation and was admissible under section 22(4) of the Employment and Assistance Act as it was in support of the records before the ministry at reconsideration. EAAT003(10/06/01) Af te r con fir min g that she was not if i ed, the t (s). ed the following documents: e d July 17, 2014 with the fo ll o wing amount of $446.40. June 2 5 , 2014 showing her acco un t wa s ss io ns : an d s he ha s no help pay ing f or t r anspo rtation to w ith a rhe umat o logist be ca use she c oul d not ive her; n to have s o meone dr iv e he r to the nearby city; nt h ; and i t 1-2 tim es per week which c os ts h er $1.5 0 nd t h at costs a n other $1.50 submitt ed t he f oll o win g w ri tten sub m iss ion s : and has "got severely worse i n the past si x ica l attentio n; money to go schoo l a nd that w a s used to pay had to g o t o emergency; bromyalgia an d migr a i n e headaches and
PART F -Rea s on s fo r Pan el Dec i s io n The is sue i s wh e th er the Ministry 's dec ision to de ny pursu ant t o se cti o n 59 o f t h e EA R is a re aso n able of the appel lant or is r easo nably s upp orte d by the ev Sect io n 5 9 (1)(a )(b) o f the EAR gi v es discret io na r y p supp l eme n t to an ind ividua l who is e ligi ble for i nco m in dividua l req uires the s upple ment to m ee t an une xp n eed ed and is una ble to meet t h e expen se or obtain the i ava i la ble. The ministry must add itiona lly dete rmin e item wi l l resul t i n imm i nent da nge r to t he p h ys ical hea S ec tio n 59 of the EAR st ates the f o llowing : 59 ( 1) The minis ter may prov ide a c risis s upplement ass i s t ance o r ha rdship assi stance i f ( a) the fa mily u ni t or a pe r son in the fa m i ly unit un e xpecte d e xpense or ob tai n an item unexpectedly ne e x pen se or ob tai n t he it e m because there ar ( b) t h e m inist e r consider s that failu re to mee (i) immin en t d an g er to the physical h ealt (ii) remo val of a ch i ld u nde r the Child , (2) A cri sis supp l e me n t m ay be prov ide d only for t h request for the suppleme nt is made. (3) A crisi s sup plemen t may not be provide d for t h e ( a ) a supplemen t descr i bed i n Sch edule C, o (b ) an y ot h er health c are go ods or services. (4) A crisis supplement provided for food, shelter or clothing is subject to the following limitations: (a) if for food, th e maximum amount t h at may b person i n the, fam ily unit, (b) if for shelter, the maximum amount that may be provided in a calendar month is the smaller of (i) the family unit's actual shelter cost, and (ii) the maximum set out in section 4 of Schedule A or Table 2 of Schedule D, as applicable, for a family unit that matches the family unit, and (c) if for clothing, the amount that may be provided must not exceed the smaller of EMT 003(1 0/06/01) th e ap pellan t a c risis supple ment for hydr o ap pli c a ti o n o f t h e le g islati o n in the ci rcumstan c e s idence. ower t o the mi nistr y to provide a cri sis e a ssi stance o r hard ship a ssi stan ce pro vid ing t he e cted expen s e or the item is u n expected l y t em b e cause there a re no res o ur c e s th at the f a ilure to me et the expe nse or o btain the l th o f any pe rs on in t h e family unit. to or for a fami ly u n it t h at is eligi ble fo r i ncome r eq u ir es the sup plemen t t o m eet an ede d and is u n able t o meet t h e e no reso ur ces available to the family unit, and t the e x pen se o r o btain the item wil l re su lt in h o f any person in the family uni t, or Fa mil y a n d Co mmuni ty Service Ac t. e calend ar month in whic h the app li c a tio n or pu r po se of o btaini ng r e pr ovided in a calendar month is $20 fo r each
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The m i nist ry f ound tha t the appe llant is/w as able to mee appellant' s in come as sistance suffic iently covers both pai d with her own fu nds . Appella n t's Posit ion The ap pel la nt argued th at s he was una ble to p ay her h rela t ed trave l a nd prescription cost s th at w ere ass oc a n d mig raine h e adach e s o ver the las t six m onths . con d iti on als o fo rced h e r to dr op out of s chool which T he a ppell a nt gave evi d ence at re conside ration tha th e u nex p ected medical cost s a nd los s of in co m e on ac inc luded t r av el expe n s es f o r trips t o the ER in anoth (one o c casio n the app ell a n t paid $60 r etur n tri p ); b us off ice 1-2 ti m es per wee k , bu s fare in th e amoun t of a s wel l as cost s ass o cia ted w ith ad de d p res cript i on Pane l Dec i sion T he le gi slat ion sti pulat e s , a mo n g other t hings, that i s u p ple m ent t he r ecipient mu s t first show that s /he r expense o r tha t the item w a s un ex p ectedly n e ed ed resourc es t o p ay for the item. T he pa n el find s that there wa s insuff i c i e nt eviden c e "une xpected cost" or an "item th at was unexpected ly pane l l ikew ise find s that there w a s ins u ff icient evid ence r es ourc es to p ay for the hy d r o bi ll with m o ney r e ce ived I n ord er t o b e eligib le for a cr i sis su ppleme n t f or h y dr th e crisis supp lement t o m e et an une xp e cted e x pe nse. incre a sed m e dical co sts that were unexpe c t ed wh ich The ministry argued that the app e lla n t's hydro bi ll was not an existi ng costumer, but argued that the additional medical costs were also not an unexpected expense as the requirement of addi t io n a l medical ly related costs had been ong The appellant gave evidenc e that her medic al co ndition m onths and that she had t o drop out of school; attend the ER in a neighboring city month over the last six months; make increased weekly visits to the local doctor's office and pharm acy by city transit, and expend additional money on medicati The ongoing trips to the E R , ho spital and pharmacy, as well as increase however, appear to have been consis t e n t over the last half a year and cannot be consid unexpected given the lengt h of time and frequency of the additional expense The panel finds that the ministry reasonably determined that the hydro bill could not be characterized as un e x pected as the appellant is an existing con s u me medical costs beinq the unexpected expense, the oanel finds that the ministrv reasonably determined EAA T 0 03(10/06/01) t th e expe n se of her h ydro bil l a s the rent a n d hydro and t h er e for e sh o uld ha v e b e en yd r o bi ll as a result of ad ditional medic a l ia t ed w i th th e det eriorat ion of her fibromyalgia Th e ap pel l a n t cl a ime d th at h e r cu rrent medica l was also a s ource of financ ing for the ap pell ant. t she c ould not pa y h e r hydro b ill on ac count of count o f l ea v ing s c h ool. Th e ad ditional cost s er city approxi m ately four to f iv e t imes per m ont h far es in t he amou nt of $1.50 to t h e d oc tor's $1. 50 to t h e phar macy to get p r e s criptions f i ll e d; s . n or der for the a ppellant to b e e li gible f or a c risis equires th e supp l ement to m eet an u nexpecte d an d, se co n d , th at s/ he does not have the to suppor t the appe l lant' s hydr o was a n neede d" as req uired by the l egisl at io n. T he to support the appell a nt did not h ave the f r o m her in c o me a ssis t a n ce. o, the ap pellant must f i rst sh o w the she r equires The a ppellant argued that it was h er rende red h er incap able of p aying h er hydr o bi l l. unexpected expense as she was an oing for t h e past six mont h s. ha d beco me "severe" over the past six 4-5 times per on. d cost of medication, ered s. r. With res pect to the appellant's additional
t h a t t h e a p p e l l a n t ' s d e t e r i o r a t i n g m e d i c a l c o n d i t i o n c u m u l a t i v e a n d c a n n o t b e c o n s i d e r e d u n e x p e c t e d . T h e p a n e l a l s o f i n d s t h a t t h e m i n i s t r y r e a s o n a b l y d e p a y f o r h e r h y d r o b i l l . A s n o t e d b y t h e m i n i s t r y , t h e h y d r o a r e t o b e p a i d f r o m h e r i n c o m e a s s i s t a n c e p r T V / i n t e r n e t . T h e a p p e l l a n t i s p r o v i d e d w i t h s u f f i c i e n c h o s e t o p a y r a t h e r t h a n h y d r o b i l l . F o r t h e r e a s o n s , t h e p a n e l f i n d s t h e m i n i s t r y ' s d e t e r c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t f o r p a y m e n t o f a h y d r o b i l l p u r s u a a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e l e g i s l a t i o n i n t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s o E A A T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )a n d a s s o c i a t e d c o s t s h a v e b e e n o n g o i n g a n d t e r m i n e d t h a t t h e a p p e l l a n t h a d t h e r e s o u r c e s t o a p p e l l a n t i s g i v e n s h e l t e r c o s t s o f w h i c h r e n t a n d i o r t o p a y i n g o t h e r e x p e n s e s s u c h a s h e r p h o n e o r t a s s i s t a n c e t o c o v e r t h e s e c o s t s w h i c h s h e m i n a t i o n 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 a n t t o s e c t i o n 5 9 o f t h e E A R w a s a r e a s o n a b l e f t h e a p p e l l a n t a n d c o n f i r m s t h e i r d e c i s i o n .
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.