Employment Insurance General Division: What happens after you start your appeal
After you appeal, here’s what happens:
1 – We send you a letter
We’ll send you a letter to confirm we received your appeal and tell you about the next steps. If you don’t receive a letter from us, contact us.
If we need more information, we’ll tell you and give you a deadline to send it to us. If we don’t hear back from you, your appeal won’t go to the next step.
2 – We let the CEIC know you’re appealing
We’ll let the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) know you’re appealing their reconsideration decision. The CEIC is a party in the appeal. Service Canada made the reconsideration decision on behalf of the CEIC.
We’ll ask the CEIC for:
- the documents it has about your file
- the CEIC’s arguments in the case
The CEIC has 7 business days to send us documents and arguments.
3 – We make sure you and the CEIC have all the documents
We’ll make sure you and the CEIC have the same information. This means we’ll send you or your representative 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 an added party, we’ll send them the same information too. The decision may affect other people. For example, if your employer has a direct interest in what happens with your appeal, the General Division member may consider adding them to your appeal. They would be called an “added party.” We’ll send them the same information too.
Send us your documents with your Notice of Appeal form. If you get new information or find other documents that support your appeal, you can also send them to us later. But make sure you send them to us by the end of the hearing.
We’ll number each document. An appeal file can contain many documents. Numbering helps keep track of them. Each document number starts with the letters “GD”.
We’ll number the documents “GD1”, “GD2”, and so on. We’ll add the document number and the page number to the bottom of each page.
For example, this is page 1 of the second document in an appeal file:
To refer to a specific document when you contact us or during your hearing, you can mention the GD 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 a General Division member. The member will prepare for the hearing by reviewing the documents in the appeal file.
5 – You have a hearing
We’ll ask what type of hearing you prefer.
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 hearings and how to prepare for yours.