BOR 0012656649

Board reversed denial by RE of dependency allowance for claimant.  RE had ruled that because claimant received more in public assistance benefits than she had earned from employment, she was ineligible for dependency allowance because the government, not she, had paid more than 50 percent of the support for the claimant's child.  

The Board's ruling was based on section 1652(C) of the SRH, which requires the claimant to establish that he or she was child's main financial support during the base period of the claim. Although the Board's decision states that "as a matter of law, government benefits that the claimant receives, to which she has been entitled, are properly considered part of the claimant's household income which she uses to support her child," it is not clear from the decision that the outcome would be the same if the claimant were seeking a dependency allowance during the benefit year rather than the base period.   

Advocate: Brian Flynn, GBLS.