I give my OW appeal form to the Social Benefits Tribunal. Now what?
The Ontario Human Rights Commission has released their latest take on mandatory vaccines, passports and testing, here: http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc-policy-statement-covid-19-vaccine-mandates-and-proof-vaccine-certificates. In light of this update, and the new directives that the Province released a few weeks ago, we are in the process of updating our covid testing content. Please re-visit the site to access the updated content when it is available.
Long delays for appeal hearings
If you’re appealing a decision made by OW or ODSP in 2020, your appeal hearing may not happen for a long time. People report that they’re getting hearing dates from the that are between 9 and 16 months in the future. We’ll update this information as things change.
About 2 weeks after you file your Appeal Form, the Social Benefits Tribunal (SBT) sends you a letter with a file number. You file your Appeal Form when you deliver it to the SBT and follow the rules about how to do this.
Keep track of the file number as you will need it whenever you contact the SBT about your appeal.
The SBT sends a copy of your Appeal Form to the Ontario Works (OW) office.
After the SBT sends your Appeal Form
Once the OW office gets your Appeal Form, they have 30 days to fill out a Response to Appeal (Form 3) and give it to the SBT.
They can also do what’s called a “written submission”. This means that they explain in writing:
- why they made the decision you’re appealing, and
- why they think it’s correct.
If the OW office does a written submission, they have to send it to the SBT within the same 30 days.
And they have to send you a copy of whatever they send to the SBT.
If you don’t get a copy of their written submission, call the OW office.
You can also contact a community legal clinic for help.
