CHAPTER 5
DELIBERATIONS AND DECISION
5.4 Rehearing or Hearing de Novo by Order of an Umpire
Umpires may direct that the matter be sent back to the Board of Referees from which the appeal was filed, or that it be referred to another board; in the first case, it is a rehearing but in the second, it is rather a new hearing or a hearing de novo.
Where a party was denied natural justice because he or she was not given sufficient notice of a hearing date and could not be heard, and the party complains, it is established practice for the Commission officer to take such measures as are required to have the matter tried de novo, i.e., heard completely anew. This happens when the Commission forgot to issue the notice or issued it late, or where, through no fault of his or her own, the party clearly did not receive the notice.635
Since September 1998, this practice has been modified by the Benefit Manual (c. 13). Allegations of this kind will be processed as an appeal to the Umpire on the same basis as other allegations of a breach of natural justice (A. 115(2)(a)). These appeals will receive special treatment (disposal within 30 days of their receipt at the office of the Umpire), considered on the record unless the appellant insists on having an oral hearing. If the Umpire concludes that natural justice has been violated, he or she will order that the matter be referred back to a newly constituted board to be heard de novo. A rehearing will be ordered when the Umpire finds that the board failed completely to consider the question at issue and give reasons for its conclusion.636
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