MONTREAL: Thousands of Canadians became of a court ruling that the Unemployment Insurance Commission has been misinterpreting the law, a group that defends the unemployed said.

Some 469,000 claimants have lost up to thousands of dollars each in benefits because of the commission’s faulty interpretation of the law, said Jean Ledue of the Movement Action Chomage.

But Leduc said only 10,000 of the claimants are still eligible to appeal because of time constraints.

Richard Fix, press attaché to federal Human Resources Development Minister Lloyd Ax worthy, said the court judgment, which became effective Nov.7, will mean immediate increases for people who are being penalized.

The Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the Unemployment Insurance Commission misinterpreted revisions to the Unemployment Insurance Act made in 1990.

The court upheld the complaint of Stephaney Archambault that his Ul benefits were unfairly reduced to 50% of his former salary from 60% after the passage of Law C21 in 1990. Ina complex ruling three judges said the UI commission did not have the right to “automatically” reduce Archambault’s payments 10 50% of his former salary for the whole period he received payments because he was fired from his job for misconduct.

Archambault could receive about $600 in compensation.

“More than 450,000 unemployed people across Canada have been unjustly deprived of $300 million in UIC benefits,” Leduc told a news conference called to highlight the court decision.

The former Conservative government made two major modifications to the Unemployment Insurance Act in 1990 and in early 1993.

The first Law C21 lengthened the waiting period and reduced benefits for people who quit their jobs or were fired for misconduct. And Law C113, passed last spring, eliminated all benefits for people who quit or were fired for misconduct.

Ladue said only an estimated 10,000 people can still appeal because claimants have only 30 days to appeal after being notified about a UIC decision.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 3, 1993