UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE - HEARINGS

Just a reminder again - contact an attorney once you get an adverse notice of determination or when you get a letter that your employer is requesting an appeal of your determination of benefits. If you request a hearing and/or wait until you get the hearing date before you contact a lawyer, you are not giving the lawyer (at least this lawyer)enough time to prepare - so either you talk your lawyer (but not me) into going to the hearing unprepared or you attend the hearing and request an adjournment to get a lawyer or give your lawyer time. What seems to be happening in the latter case now is that judges are issuing denial decisions with leave to reopen on good cause, viz., obtaining representation - this adds more work for the lawyer and, unless it is pro bono work, more legal fees and less time devoted to the merits of your case. What happens in the former case is that claimants are unhappy with the representation they received, stating that their lawyer did not fully understand the case and was not prepared.