Facts
The Federal Court had to decide on a case in which the appellant lodged an appeal against a decision of the cantonal appeals commission for unemployment insurance, Zurich. The decision of the lower court contained appeal instructions that mentioned both the 30-day deadline for filing an administrative appeal and the 10-day deadline for interim decisions. The appellant lodged an appeal within the 30-day deadline.
The parties were the appellant and the unemployment insurance fund of the canton of Zurich. The case was decided on April 9, 1985. The competent authority was the Federal Insurance Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the appeal instructions in the present case were sufficient. It found that the appeal instructions must be clear and easily recognizable in their significance. With regard to the appeal deadline, it applies that it must be designed in such a way that even a legally untrained person can unambiguously recognize within which deadline the appeal is available to them.
The court decided that the appeal instructions in the present case were defective because the interim decision was not clearly designated as such. It followed that the appeal deadline did not begin to run until the appellant had been misled.
The Federal Court pointed out that not every defective notification is null and void, but that it must be…