Defense of Unemployment Claims

In some cases, employers have a viable reason to contest a former employee receiving unemployment benefits. Many former employees will qualify for the benefits, but those who lost their job because of serious misconduct or who quit their post may not qualify to make a claim. We help employers who decide to challenge those former workers’ access to unemployment benefits.

Even if the circumstances of a former employee’s departure give a business the option to contest a claim, it may not always be in the employer’s best interests to proceed. We work with our clients to determine if challenging the claim makes sense for them and to evaluate their case. Employers typically decide to contest a claim to avoid seeing a hike in their unemployment state tax rates, which are based on the claims made by ex-employees, or because the employer is concerned their ex-worker may plan to file a wrongful termination suit against them and want to discourage that choice. We work with our clients to develop cases against former employees’ claims, considering all possible disqualifiers, and to demonstrate for the state unemployment office the reasons for an ex-employee’s ineligibility.

Our Defense of Unemployment Claims practice includes:

• Gather evidence from former employees and witnesses and formulate a challenge of an unemployment claim
• Represent businesses at local and state unemployment hearings and appeals