Critics say unemployment system too complicated
The six-member commission tasked with recommending improvements for the state’s unemployment compensation system said their initial findings reveal a program that lacks consistency and can be confusing to employers and employees.
The Portland Press Herald reported the commission heard testimony from employers, employees and state workers Thursday during a six-hour hearing.
Daniel Wathen, a co-chairman of the commission and former Maine Supreme Judicial Court justice, said that the commission’s initial findings show the appeals process for unemployment claims lacks consistency through its multiple levels. The first step involves state staff collecting information about the case to weigh a specific claim. That decision can be appealed to a hearing officer, whose decision can be appealed to the three-member Unemployment Insurance Commission. A decision there can be appealed to superior court by either party and a decision at that level can be elevated to the state supreme court.
Maura Bragg, a hearing officer for the Maine Department of Labor’s Division of Administrative Hearings, told the commission that she agrees improving consistency across the three levels of appeals is needed, but said that the department would need to boost staff in order to do so.
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