I APPEAL NUMBER PART C -DECISION UNDER APPEAL The decision under appeal is the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction's (the "ministry") reconsideration decision dated August 29, 2018, which determined that pursuant to section 9(2) of the Employment and Assistance for Persons With Disabilities Regulation ("EAPWDR"), the appellant was not eligible for disability assistance (DA) for January and February 2018 because his net income in November and December 2017 determined under Schedule B of the EAPWDR exceeded his DA rate determined under Schedule A of the EAPWDR. This resulted in an overpayment of assistance for the months of January and February 2018 and, consequently, the applicant is required to repay the ministry in accordance with section 18 of the Employment and Assistance for Persons With Disability Act (EAPWDA). PART D-RELEVANT LEGISLATION EAPWDR Section 9(2), 24, 29 and Schedules A and B EAPWDA Section 18
PART E -SUMMARY OF FACTS With the consent of both parties, the hearing was conducted as a written hearing, pursuant to section 22(3)(b) of the Employment and Assistance Act. The appellant is a sole recipient of disability assistance with no dependents. The evidence before the ministry at reconsideration included: • A Request for Reconsideration dated July 3, 2018 which the appellant signed on August 20, 2018 citing that the reason for his request was because he had submitted his stubs for November and December and that the ministry didn't put them through; • An Overpayment Chart for assistance months May 2017 to February 2018 which summarizes for each month the amount of income declared, the exemption amount, the assistance amount and the overpayment amount . An overpayment amount shows up for assistance months January 2018 and February 2018 totalling $2,266.84; • An Overpayment Notification dated July 3, 2018 informing the appellant of the total amount of $2,266.84 and that this amount is a debt due to the government of BC and that he is liable to repay the amount by reducing his assistance by $10 each month; • An Annual Earnings Exemption (AEE) Calculator from 2017, which summarizes the appellant's 2017 income and the exemption amounts that were applied for each month. The AEE calculations show that the annual limit was reached part way through Nov 2017 with AEE of $533. 79 remaining, which resulted in a "qualifying income" of $1635.35 for Nov 2017 and $1186.85 for Dec 2017; • Monthly Reports (HR81) dated May 5, 2017 (2 declaring different amounts) along with supporting paystubs, June 7, 2017 and supporting paystubs, July 7, 2017 and supporting paystubs, August 4, 2017 and supporting paystubs, September 5, 2017 and supporting paystubs, October 6, 2017 and supporting paystubs, October 29, 2017 and supporting paystub; • A paystub showing cheque date of Nov 30, 2017 with net pay of $2169.14; • A paystub showing cheque date of Dec 29, 2017 with net pay of $1186.85; and • A letter from the ministry to the appellant dated July 3, 2018 explaining that an overpayment had occurred when they obtained documents that showed the appellant had received earnings totalling $2822.20, after applying the annual earnings exemption, and that the appellant's declared earnings were $0. The ministry wrote that because the appellant is a participant in the Persons with Disabilities Annualized Earnings Exemptions program, he was required to submit a monthly report declaring all income, even if there were no changes in income to report. The appellant wrote on the Notice of Appeal form on September 11, 2018: "Because the truth is I did hand in my paystubs, and the person who I hand in the paystubs must have mess around with my file so can't blame everything on me so its not fair. Everyone is human so they make mistakes too." The ministry submission for the written hearing was the reconsideration summary provided in the record of ministry decision. The appellant did not provide additional information for the written hearing.
PART F -REASONS FOR PANEL DECISION The issue under appeal is whether the ministry decision dated August 29, 2018, which determined that pursuant to section 9(2) of the Employment and Assistance for Persons With Disabilities Regulation (EAPWD) the appellant was not eligible for disability assistance (DA) for January and February 2018 because his net income in November and December 2017 ( determined under Schedule B of the EAPWDR) exceeded his DA rate ( determined under Schedule A of the EAPWDR), which resulted in an overpayment of assistance for the months of January and February 2018 and, consequently, the applicant being required to repay the ministry in accordance with section 18 of the Employment and Assistance for Persons With Disability Act (EAPWDA), was reasonably supported by the evidence or a reasonable interpretation of the legislation. The relevant legislation is as follows: EAPWDR Limits on income 9 (2) A family unit is not eligible for disability assistance if the net income of the family unit determined under Schedule B equals or exceeds the amount of disability assistance determined under Schedule A for a family unit matching that family unit. Amount of disability assistance 24 Disability assistance may be provided to or for a family unit, for a calendar month, in an amount that is not more than (a)the amount determined under Schedule A, minus (b)the family unit's net income determined under Schedule B. Reporting requirement 29 For the purposes of section 11 (1) (a) [reporting obligations] of the Act, (a)the report must be submitted by the 5th day of the calendar month following the calendar month in which one or more of the following occur: (ii)a family unit receives earned income as set out in paragraph (b) (vi); (b )the information required is all of the following, as requested in the monthly report form prescribed under the Forms Regulation, B.C. Reg. 87/2018: (vi)the amount of earned income received by the family unit in the calendar month and the source of that income; Schedule A Disability Assistance Rates Maximum amount of disability assistance before deduction of net income 1 (1) Subject to this section and sections 3 and 6 to 9 of this Schedule, the amount of disability assistance referred to in section 24 (a) [amount of disability assistance] of this regulation is the sum of (a)the monthly support allowance under section 2 of this Schedule for a family unit matching the family unit of the applicant or recipient, plus (b)the shelter allowance calculated under sections 4 and 5 of this Schedule. Monthly support allowance
I 2018-00340 Item Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Family unit composition Age or status of applicant or recipient Amount ($) 1 Sole applicant/ recipient and no Applicant/ recipient is a person with disabilities 758.42 dependent children Monthly Shelter Allowance Item Column 1 Column 2 Family Unit Size Maximum Monthly Shelter 1 1 person $375 Schedule B Net Income Calculation Deduction and exemption rules 1 When calculating the net income of a family unit for the purposes of section 24 (b) [amount of disability assistance] of this regulation, (a)the following are exempt from income: (i)any income earned by a dependent child attending school on a full-time basis; (ii)Repealed. [B.C. Reg. 96/2017, App. 2, s. 2 (a).] (iii)Repealed. [B.C. Reg. 48/2010 , Sch. 1, s. 2 (c).] (iv)a family bonus, except the portion treated as unearned income under section 10 (1) of this Schedule; (iv.1) the Canada child benefit, except the portion treated as unearned income under section 10 (1) of this Schedule; (v)the basic child tax benefit; (vi)a goods and services tax credit under the Income Tax Act (Canada); (vii)a tax credit under section 8 [refundable sales tax credit], 8.1 [climate action tax credit] or 8.2 [BC harmonized sales tax credit] of the Income Tax Act (British Columbia); (viii)individual redress payments granted by the government of Canada to a person of Japanese ancestry; (ix)individual payments granted by the government of Canada under the Extraordinary Assistance Plan to a person infected by the human immunodeficiency virus; (x)individual payments granted by the government of British Columbia to a person infected by the human immunodeficiency virus or to the surviving spouse or dependent children of that person; (xi) individual payments granted by the government of Canada under the Extraordinary Assistance Plan to thalidomide victims; (xii) money that is (A)paid or payable to a person if the money is awarded to the person by an adjudicative panel in respect of claims of abuse at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and drawn from a lump sum settlement paid by the government of British Columbia, or (B)paid or payable to or for a person if the payment is in accordance with the settlement aqreement EAAT003 (17/08/17) 5
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