Facts
The Federal Social Insurance Court has been seized of an appeal by the Federal Office of Industry, Arts and Crafts and Labour (OFIAMT) against a decision of the Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich. The dispute concerned the point in time at which intermediate income from an independent secondary activity should be taken into account in the calculation of unemployment benefits. Appellant A. worked as an IT service technician until the end of May 1993. Since June 1993, he has received unemployment benefits. For several months, he has been giving guitar and bass lessons, generating a dependent secondary income. From August 1994 onwards, he was able to give these lessons on his own account. The unemployment insurance fund then took this intermediate income from the independent activity as a music teacher into account for the months of August and September 1994, which resulted in an overpayment of benefits in August 1994 that the fund claimed back. The Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich upheld A.'s appeal and annulled the fund's decision of 7 October 1994. OFIAMT then appealed against this decision to the Federal Social Insurance Court.Considerations
The Federal Social Insurance Court considers that, although the fund's decision of 7 October 1994 does not take the form of a formal decision, it nevertheless has the character of an administrative decision. As long as such benefits granted without a formal decision have not acquired the force of res judicata, the administration can revisit them without having to meet the conditions for revision or review of a decision. According to Art. 24(1) UIA, intermediate income from an independent secondary activity must be taken into account in the control period in which it was earned, i.e. at the time the insured person provided the remunerated service, and not at the time the payment is made. This interpretation…