RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia Employment Commission and legal advocacy groups that sued the agency on behalf of five residents have reached an agreement to dismiss the federal lawsuit over the VEC’s struggle to promptly settle disputed jobless claims.
In April, five Virginia residents struggling to get the unemployment benefits they sought sued VEC Commissioner Ellen Marie Hess in federal court in Richmond. The class-action lawsuit alleged the VEC violated claimants’ rights for not responding to complaints and abruptly putting people’s benefits on hold without quickly adjudicating disputed claims.
After months of sharing information and acknowledging VEC’s progress on resolving unemployment claims quicker, the parties filed an order to end the lawsuit. The judge overseeing the case will still have to sign off on the proposed agreement.
“The Court hereby FINDS that the VEC has met or substantially achieved the various performance standards and benchmarks set forth in the Settlement Order and the Parties’ subsequent progress reports related to the processing of unemployment claims and communication with claimants,” the order states.
The commission was required to “substantially resolve at least 95%” of the 92,158 unpaid claims awaiting adjudication as of May 10 under the settlement agreement. The state agency reported that it cleared that specific backlog a month before it was required to do so, but U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson denied the VEC’s dismissal...
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