Canadian Insurance News is conducting an investigation into the
Minister of Employment and Social Development office in Chatham
Ontario Canada.
Mostly we are looking for information that will lead to the
procecution of the medical individules reposible for the backlog of
appeals going to the Social Security tribunal of Canada.
Help us help disabled Canadians get what they paid for and make
sure these pay-for-hire government doctors stop delaying, denying,
and using wait for them to die tactics against legitimately disabled
Canadians.
We can only fix the problems at the Social Development office in
Chatham if we work together to expose these corrupt induviduals and
set an example of just one of them.
Do you have a story that needs to be told? Contact us at
canadianinsurancenews at g mail dot com.
Admin,
Canadian Insurance
News
http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/
CIN is a non-profit Advocate for Insurance and Health Care Reform. Postings are cut/paste from other sources. @Cinsurancenews #rally4accidentvictims #ABPetition #CPPbacklog
Showing posts with label service canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label service canada. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
WHERE DO VICTIMS GO WHEN INSURERS DONT PAY?
Letter to Social
Security Tribunal of Canada
Dear Ms. /Mrs.
Brazeau:
Please acknowledge
receipt of my Facsimile Submission to you on January 22, 2015
included herein and also online at:
http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2015/01/delay-deny-wait-for-them-to-die-at-sst.html
Your lack of
response only serves to substantiate my previous claims about how my
claim for CPP Disability Benefits has been handled to date.
As an appeal
applicant I require you to answer my enquires involving my Canadian
Pension Plan Disability Application.
As you know I have
gone public about Service Canada, the Social Security Tribunal, and
the Insurance industry puppets that prey on legitimate accident
victims. The information I have compiled during my problematic 7 year
battle to receive Canadian Pension Plan Disability Benefits shows how
much of a dysfunctional product it is.
As a member of Fair
Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform
http://www.fairassociation.ca/
I also require an answer to my questions as an advocate for the
15,000 people that are waiting at your Social Security Tribunal
backlog.
These same people
discarded by their auto insurance companies. These same people with
legitimate injuries that were already backlogged At FSCO because of
our justice system has run amok.
Then these same
people were denied by Service Canada ending up at your door
backlogged once again as part of a delay, deny, wait for them to die
tactic directed at injured victims already victimized by Motor
Vehicle crashes.
These backlogged
consumers that were mandated to purchase security and piece of mind
from Ontario's insurers through government legislation.
The same people who
already have a severely diminished quality of life. They are injured,
broke, medicated, terminally ill, often organ transplant recipients,
they are stressed out, dying and suicidal.
See:
-SOCIAL SECURITY TRIBUNAL – BROKEN:
http://administrativejusticereform.ca/social-security-tribunal-broken/http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=2&DocId=6781650#Int-8510994
http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2014/11/social-security-tribunal-says-more-than.html
- 14,500 Canadians waiting at Broken Social Security Tribunal: https://youtu.be/9WTzdq7E2K0
-SOCIAL SECURITY TRIBUNAL – More
http://administrativejusticereform.ca/social-security-tribunal/
-Fair Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform http://fairassociation.ca
-So You Think You're Covered! The Insurance Industry Rip-Off: http://deniedbenefitclaims.ca/
-Government on hot seat about dying Alberta man denied CPP disability benefits: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/government-on-hot-seat-about-dying-alberta-man-denied-cpp-disability-benefits-294252741.html
-Administrative Justice and DISABILITY Claims – NOT A PRETTY PICTURE
http://administrativejusticereform.ca/administrative-justice-disability-claims-not-a-pretty-picture/-‘Amputate your leg’ Insurer’s expert recommendation to accident victim
http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/2014/03/amputate-your-leg-insurers-expert.html
-Social security tribunal backlog includes terminally ill, others deep in debt
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/social-security-tribunal-backlog-includes-terminally-ill-others-deep-in-debt/article21864630/
-In the House of Commons on April 27th, 2015. Mr. Speaker, we are talking about people who are desperate. They have serious health issues; some of them are depressed and suicidal.
https://openparliament.ca/debates/2015/4/27/jinny-sims-5/only/
Service Canada mentions my blogs in their submission to the Social Security Tribunal, and uses my blogs as an excuse not to pay Canadian Pension Plan Disability Benefits.
See GD-12-10.
You can't have it both ways Ms Brazeau. Service Canada can't use my blog as an excuse not to pay CPP Disability Benefits and at the same time choose not to include my email appeal submissions regarding my blog? Clearly my blog has become relevant and should be included in the conversation and made part of the record.
Herein are examples of some relevant information :
-Social security officials idle in tribunal's early months as backlog grew
http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/social-security-officials-idle-in.html
-Was government really blindsided by disability benefits backlog? http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/was-government-really-blindsided-by.html
-Kenney: Social security backlog ‘unacceptable’http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/kenneysocial-security-backlog.html
-Fraud against insurance claimants - business-as-usual
http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/fraud-against-insurance-claimants.html
-Baloney Meter: social security tribunal
http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/baloney-meter-social-security-tribunal.html-Wait Stretches years due to tribunal backlog
http://globalnews.ca/news/1703378/disability-benefits-wait-stretches-years-due-to-tribunal-backlog/
-Question Period: Shameful Social Security Tribunal Backlog: https://youtu.be/E9uUP294qaA
-Question Period: Social Security Tribunal:
https://youtu.be/61KIM-q5-pc
-Question Period: Social Security Tribunal:
https://youtu.be/c0FjdxdHYcY
-Social Security Tribunal members earned $100 000 a year to sit https://youtu.be/uznIpeWQXSs
Please address the following CPP Disability Appeal
issues that remain outstanding
1-Ontario will introduce legislation to tackle privacy violations of health records http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/03/30/ontario-will-introduce-legislation-to-tackle-privacy-violations-of-health-records.html my issues regarding health records are the following:
(a)-My Medical file that was left on a bench in front of our house on December 3, 2014. http://t.co/lEyFQ9zJyr .
(b)- Anonymous access to my medical records have been downloaded
HCAI Security Breach:
http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2013/12/hcai-security-breach.html and transferred to unsecured mail servers.
Phillis Brodie RN Service Canada said she would decide where she was going to get medical information from and let me know by letter. She never did. She wrote down my lawyers name, address, fax number, phone number, so she could.
Where did Phillis Brodie of Service Canada get my medical records from?
See: audio recordings Phillis Brodie RN Service Canada
2- Please respond to the Social Security Tribunal Unreasonable Conduct described in my fax submission to you on January 22, 2015 and Service Canada Intent to Deceive, Bad Faith Administering my Claim, and Service Canada being Caught in Lie.
See attached: January 22, 2015 Fax Submission to Ms Brazeau -Social Security Tribunal Chairperson.
3- Social security officials idle in the tribunal's early months as backlog grew
http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/social-security-officials-idle-in.html
4- Again, please acknowledgement that I did not write the posting: Ottawa’s unjust approach to disability insurance by Jackie Esmonde , Marie Chen published September 12, 2014. GD15-3
5-Please acknowledge I do not “make software” or “build computers” as Service Canada has said in there submission to the Social Security Tribunal.
GD-12-10
6-Please fix the error in my file that I administrate the Fair Association site at http://www.fairassociation.ca/ GD5-3
7-Because the Social Security Tribunal Backlog has stretched on for years and Service Canada s routine denials of benefits it is reasonable that there will be an earning freeze on my claim. I also request an adjustment to my starting date to my first application for Disability benefits in 2008 -when I first applied one year after I was disabled by a fatal automobile crash.
I submit that Service Canada never did a full investigation with my 1st application.
SOCIAL SECURITY TRIBUNAL – PROFITING FROM PROCESSING DELAYS
http://administrativejusticereform.ca/social-security-tribunal-cpp-profits-from-delays/7-Again, I kindly request a pre hearing.
8-And yet again, I still would like an answer to my question of how Service Canada can write “we know you cant work” and still continue to deny me access to Disability benefits?
9- I AM USING THE SAME EMAIL. WE HAVE NOT MOVED. PLEASE DO NOT SAY THAT WE HAVE. If we do I will of course notify you. Is this how you will get rid of the 15,000 appeals by “proceeding in your absence” decisions?
See email Jonathan Lylyk- Case Management Officer Social Security Tribunal.
Again, I kindly request that you include ALL my submissions for my appeal. Since you have decided not to allow my email submissions I will begin sending them by fax when I am able. That will include all the years of contents from my blogs.
Because you may not respond again I will be sending
this to all the Members of the Social Security Tribunal, that have
not quit, in hopes that someone with intelligence will respond.
See:
http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1172725/benefits-arbitrators-dont-get-benefits/
Chelsea Murielle Brazeau I remind you that my employers and I have paid into the Canadian Pension Plan since 1979. That's how you get a $233,900 salary. I deserve better than to be treated unfairly, delayed, denied, and lied to. We had enough of that behaviour from Service Canada, the Insurance companies, and our backlogged justice system for the rich.
See: http://www.appointments-nominations.gc.ca/prsnt.asp?menu=1&page=renum&lang=eng
This is abuse-of-process. I paid many years into our society for the privilege of not being ignored. Please give my claim the attention it deserves. It is reasonable that I request full and fair disclosure of my relevant documents by the Social Security Tribunal of Canada. It is clear that there is an ongoing duty and obligation to adjust my file. I also recommend that you ameliorate this situation for those of us that are most vulnerable and at risk in our society.
For almost 8 years this is all that I do, I am consumed by this one sided process.
Someone should do the right thing and fix this mess.
Looking forward to hearing from you, and everyone that gets a copy of this correspondence in this regard. My application for CPP Disability was first submitted in 2008. I told you the longer this takes the louder I will be.
Cc: undisclosed at this time
Please note:
This letter has taken a long time for me to write given my headaches and mixing up letters of the alphabet. I want to say thank you to all the people that help me edit my letters and blog postings. Thank you. If it were not for you, my letters would not be so coherent and family friendly.
The attachment:
DELAY DENY wait for them to DIE at the SST
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Spruce Grove man dying of cancer fighting for disability benefits
Peter McClure, who is dying of cancer, has been repeatedly denied a CPP
disability pension and has been told there will be a long delay in
reconsidering his application.
By Cailynn Klingbeil, Edmonton Journal February 8, 2015
EDMONTON
- A Spruce Grove man dying of cancer has spent one-and-a-half years
fighting to have his Canada Pension Plan retirement benefits switched to
disability benefits, but Service Canada has continually stated he does
not qualify because his condition is not severe and prolonged.
Peter McClure receives about $500 a month in retirement benefits, whereas disability benefits would be at least double that.
McClure, 62, went for a routine colonoscopy in the fall of 2012. Doctors found rectal cancer, and a followup test revealed tumours on his right lung, a second separate primary cancer. In early 2013, doctors told McClure he had six months to one year to live.
Worried about the loss of family income for his wife and himself, McClure applied for and started receiving retirement benefits from CPP in December 2012. Before applying, McClure said he called Service Canada and explained his circumstances: He could work at that time, but his condition might worsen.
“I was told if I applied for CPP I would have it right away. Disability would take three to four months to come,” McClure said. “No one told me the repercussions of doing that.”
But after McClure had to stop working and applied to switch his retirement benefits to disability benefits, he was denied. A reconsideration of that decision resulted in another denial, which McClure has appealed.
Michael Prince, the Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy at the University of Victoria, has extensively studied disability policy and said McClure’s case is not unusual.
About 47 per cent of CPP disability claimants are initially turned down, Prince said.
“This is a national issue, a quiet crisis,” Prince said. “Almost one out of every two Canadians discover this safety net isn’t there for them. It doesn’t give them the protection they had been advised would be there for them. It’s a shock on many levels.”
With so many people turned down, Prince points to a failure in communicating how to successfully apply for disability. “There needs to be an application process that is transparent and clear. Right now, the onus is on people to figure out this maze.”
“People who have played by the rules, who have paid into this, are suffering and struggling.”
After he was first diagnosed with cancer, McClure continued to work his job in sales. He used vacation days to attend medical appointments. After six weeks of treatment for rectal cancer, he began more aggressive treatments for stage IV lung cancer.
McClure, a former fitness and aquafit instructor and founder of the Edmonton Hikers Group, soon developed serious complications. The week after the first chemotherapy session, McClure was sent to the emergency room and doctors discovered a massive blood clot in his femoral artery, leading to a 10-day hospital stay.
McClure’s doctor told him he wouldn’t be able to return to work. He stopped working on April 23, 2013, and after relying on savings, he applied for disability benefits on Aug. 1, 2013. His application was denied the next day, in a form letter stating while he met the contribution requirements, he did not meet the CPP disability rule.
“You do not have a disability that is both severe and prolonged as defined under the CPP legislation,” the letter stated.
Peter McClure receives about $500 a month in retirement benefits, whereas disability benefits would be at least double that.
McClure, 62, went for a routine colonoscopy in the fall of 2012. Doctors found rectal cancer, and a followup test revealed tumours on his right lung, a second separate primary cancer. In early 2013, doctors told McClure he had six months to one year to live.
Worried about the loss of family income for his wife and himself, McClure applied for and started receiving retirement benefits from CPP in December 2012. Before applying, McClure said he called Service Canada and explained his circumstances: He could work at that time, but his condition might worsen.
“I was told if I applied for CPP I would have it right away. Disability would take three to four months to come,” McClure said. “No one told me the repercussions of doing that.”
But after McClure had to stop working and applied to switch his retirement benefits to disability benefits, he was denied. A reconsideration of that decision resulted in another denial, which McClure has appealed.
Michael Prince, the Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy at the University of Victoria, has extensively studied disability policy and said McClure’s case is not unusual.
About 47 per cent of CPP disability claimants are initially turned down, Prince said.
“This is a national issue, a quiet crisis,” Prince said. “Almost one out of every two Canadians discover this safety net isn’t there for them. It doesn’t give them the protection they had been advised would be there for them. It’s a shock on many levels.”
With so many people turned down, Prince points to a failure in communicating how to successfully apply for disability. “There needs to be an application process that is transparent and clear. Right now, the onus is on people to figure out this maze.”
“People who have played by the rules, who have paid into this, are suffering and struggling.”
After he was first diagnosed with cancer, McClure continued to work his job in sales. He used vacation days to attend medical appointments. After six weeks of treatment for rectal cancer, he began more aggressive treatments for stage IV lung cancer.
McClure, a former fitness and aquafit instructor and founder of the Edmonton Hikers Group, soon developed serious complications. The week after the first chemotherapy session, McClure was sent to the emergency room and doctors discovered a massive blood clot in his femoral artery, leading to a 10-day hospital stay.
McClure’s doctor told him he wouldn’t be able to return to work. He stopped working on April 23, 2013, and after relying on savings, he applied for disability benefits on Aug. 1, 2013. His application was denied the next day, in a form letter stating while he met the contribution requirements, he did not meet the CPP disability rule.
“You do not have a disability that is both severe and prolonged as defined under the CPP legislation,” the letter stated.
A
reconsideration of the decision — another denial — was given about a
month later. McClure appealed the reconsideration decision with the
Social Security Tribunal, which wrote to him to advise him of
“unavoidable delays” because of a significant volume of files.
The tribunal has a backlog of more than 11,000 appeals, mostly from people seeking disability benefits. Last November, more staff was added to deal with the backlog.
Service Canada’s media relations office said in an email that to switch from retirement benefits to disability benefits, the date of disability must be prior to the first monthly payment of the retirement pension.
McClure started receiving his retirement pension in December 2012, meaning he must be found to have been disabled prior to November 2012. His condition did not prevent him from working until April 2013.
But McClure said the rule was never made clear to him when he applied. Had he known, he would have waited until his condition changed in April — just five months after his initial pension application — and applied for disability then, avoiding the bureaucratic mess that ensued.
McClure wonders where in the system there is room to accommodate changes in medical conditions.
Frustrated by the delays, he questions if he’ll live to see the issue resolved. He currently receives palliative chemotherapy, intended to prolong his survival and ease his symptoms, but not cure the cancer.
“This whole process seems to be intended to be difficult,” McClure said, surrounded by a thick stack of papers, his correspondence with Service Canada since August 2013.
“I paid into CPP all my working life. Why is it not there when you need it? We should be doing a better job than this.”
cklingbeil@edmontonjournal.com
twitter.com/cailynnk
The tribunal has a backlog of more than 11,000 appeals, mostly from people seeking disability benefits. Last November, more staff was added to deal with the backlog.
Service Canada’s media relations office said in an email that to switch from retirement benefits to disability benefits, the date of disability must be prior to the first monthly payment of the retirement pension.
McClure started receiving his retirement pension in December 2012, meaning he must be found to have been disabled prior to November 2012. His condition did not prevent him from working until April 2013.
But McClure said the rule was never made clear to him when he applied. Had he known, he would have waited until his condition changed in April — just five months after his initial pension application — and applied for disability then, avoiding the bureaucratic mess that ensued.
McClure wonders where in the system there is room to accommodate changes in medical conditions.
Frustrated by the delays, he questions if he’ll live to see the issue resolved. He currently receives palliative chemotherapy, intended to prolong his survival and ease his symptoms, but not cure the cancer.
“This whole process seems to be intended to be difficult,” McClure said, surrounded by a thick stack of papers, his correspondence with Service Canada since August 2013.
“I paid into CPP all my working life. Why is it not there when you need it? We should be doing a better job than this.”
cklingbeil@edmontonjournal.com
twitter.com/cailynnk
© Copyright (c) Edmonton Journal
Source: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/touch/story.html?id=10797822
Monday, January 12, 2015
Social security officials idle in tribunal's early months as backlog grew
OTTAWA
- The federal government announced two years ago it was creating a
streamlined social security tribunal that would save Canadian taxpayers
$25 million a year, but some well-paid new members had nothing to do
during its first year of operation.
"The tribunal — the one that was supposed to save money — had 30-40 people making $100,000 a year sitting at home that first year," Philippe Rabot, the commissioner of review tribunals from 2005 to 2010, said in an interview.
"They had no work assigned to them for a year. It wasn't their fault. The department simply wasn't ready on April 1, 2013. They didn't have enough lead time to set up such a big tribunal, and the tribunal wasn't ready to start assigning cases."
Some of the decision-makers who worked in the old system were brought onto the new tribunal by the department that was then known as Human Resources and Social Development. Rabot is familiar with the launch period.
A former tribunal member who left the board confirmed there was little to do in the early days.
A spokesman for the tribunal, however, says the new appointees were being trained or mentored by "more experienced members."
"Furthermore, members worked on becoming more proficient with our new case management system that allowed them to move from paper to electronic files," Laura Revilien said in an email.
Meantime, terminal cancer patients, those suffering debilitating injuries and debt-addled Canadians waited for their appeals to be heard. Some have now waited as long as five years amid a growing backlog of 11,000 social security cases, mostly involving those seeking Canada Pension Plan disability benefits.
One of them only just won his appeal after a four-year battle. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suffered a stroke and was ultimately unable to work due to related health issues.
"My wife and I did manage, and we're not starving by any means, but I've been having to dip into my RRSPs to keep above water and that shouldn't be," said the former construction worker, who fears having his award withheld in retaliation for speaking out.
The man says when he received word that he'd won, the tribunal made reference to "recent" information about his health. That information was sent to the government almost two years ago, he said in astonishment.
In its first year, the social security tribunal concluded just 461 hearings on appeals from people denied CPP disability and old-age security benefits — and most of those appeals were dismissed.
That's compared to thousands of hearings held the previous year under the old regime and despite an ever-ballooning backlog.
Employment Minister Jason Kenney has pointed to a "rigorous pre-screening process" for new members and an "unexpected legacy backlog" in explaining how the pileup has grown so large. His office recently hired 22 part-timers to help 73 full-time tribunal members wrestle with the backlog.
But the tribunal was seriously under-staffed its first year, with several full-time positions remaining vacant until this summer, more than a year after its official launch.
The full-time members earn between $97,000 to $114,000 a year. If 30-40 of them were idle in the first year of operation, that amounts to millions of dollars in wasted salary expenses.
In written responses to questions from Liberal MPs earlier this year, the government revealed that almost $12 million of its $13.6-million price tag in the tribunal's first year of operation in fact went to salaries.
Longtime stakeholders suggest the government had ulterior motives in slowing down the appeals process.
"Those who successfully appeal do not receive any interest on the years of retroactive benefits," says one lawyer who asked for anonymity because he represents dozens of clients who are awaiting decisions on their appeals and he fears government reprisals.
"The government keeps it. There's the incentive to not be in any rush to adjudicate cases; they used the stalled system to earn money. Let's not forget the new prosperity presently being enjoyed by the government."
The tribunal's "notice of readiness" system also contributed further to the backlog, the lawyer said.
The system was put in place on the first day of the tribunal, when Kenney says the government first learned of more than 6,000 backlogged cases inherited from the former system.
It required appellants to sign a document within 365 days indicating they'd file no additional submissions and were ready to proceed with their appeal. Allison Schmidt, a disability claims case manager based in Saskatchewan, warned her clients against signing it.
"They could have signed it, had a stroke the next day and then not been able to submit that critical information to the tribunal," she said.
Failing to sign it, however, delayed their appeals indefinitely, adding to the backlog bloat under the new system.
And the tribunal — buried under a mountain of paperwork by March 2014 as appellants submitted more supporting documents to meet the 365-day "notice of readiness" deadline — gave up on the system, saying it wasn't working.
The lawyer suspects the abandoned system was aimed at grinding the appeals process to a halt.
"They set it up immediately to avoid scheduling hearings," he said. "They knew the social security tribunal was not ready to hear appeals and this was the way to avoid having to hold any. In the meantime, they were making investment income on funds that weren't being awarded."
The Canada Pension Plan has net assets of more than $180 billion from contributions and returns on investments.
In an emailed response, the tribunal didn't immediately comment on whether new members didn't have cases assigned to them in the early months of the social security tribunal's existence.
But a spokesman said the formation of the tribunal "created administrative efficiencies, which has resulted in ongoing administrative savings."
Simon Rivet added: "There are no additional savings associated with the payment of benefits. Clients will continue to receive all benefits to which they are entitled."
Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter @leeanne25
Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/social-security-officials-were-idle-in-tribunals-early-months-says-official-284908491.html
"The tribunal — the one that was supposed to save money — had 30-40 people making $100,000 a year sitting at home that first year," Philippe Rabot, the commissioner of review tribunals from 2005 to 2010, said in an interview.
"They had no work assigned to them for a year. It wasn't their fault. The department simply wasn't ready on April 1, 2013. They didn't have enough lead time to set up such a big tribunal, and the tribunal wasn't ready to start assigning cases."
Some of the decision-makers who worked in the old system were brought onto the new tribunal by the department that was then known as Human Resources and Social Development. Rabot is familiar with the launch period.
A former tribunal member who left the board confirmed there was little to do in the early days.
A spokesman for the tribunal, however, says the new appointees were being trained or mentored by "more experienced members."
"Furthermore, members worked on becoming more proficient with our new case management system that allowed them to move from paper to electronic files," Laura Revilien said in an email.
Meantime, terminal cancer patients, those suffering debilitating injuries and debt-addled Canadians waited for their appeals to be heard. Some have now waited as long as five years amid a growing backlog of 11,000 social security cases, mostly involving those seeking Canada Pension Plan disability benefits.
One of them only just won his appeal after a four-year battle. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suffered a stroke and was ultimately unable to work due to related health issues.
"My wife and I did manage, and we're not starving by any means, but I've been having to dip into my RRSPs to keep above water and that shouldn't be," said the former construction worker, who fears having his award withheld in retaliation for speaking out.
The man says when he received word that he'd won, the tribunal made reference to "recent" information about his health. That information was sent to the government almost two years ago, he said in astonishment.
In its first year, the social security tribunal concluded just 461 hearings on appeals from people denied CPP disability and old-age security benefits — and most of those appeals were dismissed.
That's compared to thousands of hearings held the previous year under the old regime and despite an ever-ballooning backlog.
Employment Minister Jason Kenney has pointed to a "rigorous pre-screening process" for new members and an "unexpected legacy backlog" in explaining how the pileup has grown so large. His office recently hired 22 part-timers to help 73 full-time tribunal members wrestle with the backlog.
But the tribunal was seriously under-staffed its first year, with several full-time positions remaining vacant until this summer, more than a year after its official launch.
The full-time members earn between $97,000 to $114,000 a year. If 30-40 of them were idle in the first year of operation, that amounts to millions of dollars in wasted salary expenses.
In written responses to questions from Liberal MPs earlier this year, the government revealed that almost $12 million of its $13.6-million price tag in the tribunal's first year of operation in fact went to salaries.
Longtime stakeholders suggest the government had ulterior motives in slowing down the appeals process.
"Those who successfully appeal do not receive any interest on the years of retroactive benefits," says one lawyer who asked for anonymity because he represents dozens of clients who are awaiting decisions on their appeals and he fears government reprisals.
"The government keeps it. There's the incentive to not be in any rush to adjudicate cases; they used the stalled system to earn money. Let's not forget the new prosperity presently being enjoyed by the government."
The tribunal's "notice of readiness" system also contributed further to the backlog, the lawyer said.
The system was put in place on the first day of the tribunal, when Kenney says the government first learned of more than 6,000 backlogged cases inherited from the former system.
It required appellants to sign a document within 365 days indicating they'd file no additional submissions and were ready to proceed with their appeal. Allison Schmidt, a disability claims case manager based in Saskatchewan, warned her clients against signing it.
"They could have signed it, had a stroke the next day and then not been able to submit that critical information to the tribunal," she said.
Failing to sign it, however, delayed their appeals indefinitely, adding to the backlog bloat under the new system.
And the tribunal — buried under a mountain of paperwork by March 2014 as appellants submitted more supporting documents to meet the 365-day "notice of readiness" deadline — gave up on the system, saying it wasn't working.
The lawyer suspects the abandoned system was aimed at grinding the appeals process to a halt.
"They set it up immediately to avoid scheduling hearings," he said. "They knew the social security tribunal was not ready to hear appeals and this was the way to avoid having to hold any. In the meantime, they were making investment income on funds that weren't being awarded."
The Canada Pension Plan has net assets of more than $180 billion from contributions and returns on investments.
In an emailed response, the tribunal didn't immediately comment on whether new members didn't have cases assigned to them in the early months of the social security tribunal's existence.
But a spokesman said the formation of the tribunal "created administrative efficiencies, which has resulted in ongoing administrative savings."
Simon Rivet added: "There are no additional savings associated with the payment of benefits. Clients will continue to receive all benefits to which they are entitled."
Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter @leeanne25
Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/social-security-officials-were-idle-in-tribunals-early-months-says-official-284908491.html
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