A lawsuit filed Thursday alleged the Virginia Employment Commission didn’t respond in a timely manner to unemployment claims and denied claimants due process when they cut off unemployment benefits.
The suit named five plaintiffs, but is a class-action lawsuit. The Legal Aid Justice Center said the lawsuit would apply to everyone applicable if they win and there is no need to opt-in to be covered by the result.
Three of the plaintiffs are suing because they didn’t receive an answer from the VEC within three weeks, which is required by law.
“We propose to the court that those folks represent a class of Virginians all across the state who've applied and been waiting more than 21 days for their cases to be decided,” said Pat Levy-Lavelle, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Justice Center who represents the five plaintiffs.
The US Department of Labor ranks Virginia last when it comes to the timely processing of unemployment claims.
“The law basically says you're entitled to have your unemployment case decided quickly and the VEC is basically destroying that property interest without any kind of process by telling people, ‘Sorry, but you're just going to have to wait a long time for your case to be decided,’” Levy-Lavelle said.
The two other plaintiffs are suing because they say they were denied due process when their benefits were cut off.
“After getting cut off benefits, I became homeless for roughly four months. I have no income now, other than food stamps. I have a roof over my head again, for now, only through temporary assistance from rent relief programs,” Lenita Gibson said in a press release. “The financial loss has been tremendous, and emotionally you are just a wreck.”
The press release announcing the lawsuit said the problems continued despite $38 million in federal money to shore up the VEC. Levy-Lavelle said the VEC told him in February they had just 69 people adjudicating cases, compared to 35 before the pandemic. Since March 2020 over 1.5 million claims have been filed.
“Just in the last week or so claims volume is up roughly 12 times more than it was the last pre-pandemic week,” he said. “Just double the number of adjudication staff pre-pandemic is not nearly going to cut it.”
"Ultimately this case is about the way Virginia has dropped the ball with its unemployment insurance system. Governor Northam really needs to take the lead in doing his job for jobless Virginians."
The Virginia Employment Commission declined to comment on the case.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
