Tuesday, July 19, 2016

UC - late appeal - non-negligent conduct of claimant

Claimant allowed to appeal nunc pro tunc from decision that she had received fault overpayments where --

            - Claimant received benefits between 11-16-13 and 5-24-14
            - On May 15, 2015, the Dept. issued an overpayment notice, charging fault OP
            - Claimant had moved from her old address, at which she received benefits, about a year before the OP notice was sent
            - CL eventually learned of OP notice and filed appeal, beyond appeal date
            - Claimant had not provided forwarding address to USPS because she was being hounded by creditors

Court held that under applicable late appeal jurisprudence, e.g., Hessou v. UCBR, 942 A.2d 194, 198 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2008), the “non-negligent conduct of the claimant” exception should be applied.  Nothing that CL did was negligent.  She had moved more than a year after her benefits had ended and had no duty or reason to let UC authorities know of this.   The testimony showed that CL had an unstable housing situation and moved to avoid creditors, but not that she was in any way negligent.

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*An unreported Commonwealth Court case may not be cited binding precedent but can be cited for its persuasive value.  See 210 Pa. Code § 69.414(b) and Pa. R.A.P.  3716

If the case is old, the link may have become stale and may not work, but you can use the case name, court, and date to find the opinion in another source (e.g., Westlaw, Lexis, Google Scholar)