Appeals court sides with LIRC in jobless benefit cases

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A state court of appeals has found that several lawsuits the state Department of Workforce Development filed against an independent body that reviews the department’s jobless-benefit decisions were thrown out properly.

In general, the DWD decides what benefits an unemployed worker can receive. Any disputes over what gets awarded can be challenged, though. Appeals first go to an administrative law judge, then to the state’s Labor and Industry Review Commission and then to a circuit court.

Wednesday’s decision stems from six lawsuits the DWD filed against the Labor and Industry Review Commission in Kenosha County Circuit Court. The lawsuits involved seven jobless-benefit claimants, only one of whom resided in Kenosha County.

In all the cases, DWD questioned the Labor and Industry Review Commission’s interpretation of a statute that prevents unemployment claimants from receiving jobless benefits while they are also getting disability compensation through social security. In the end, the commission decided to award benefits to all seven claimants.

But on appeal, Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge David Bastianelli dismissed six of the cases, concluding in November 2014 that an improper venue had been chosen for the cases. He found that the DWD had not complied with state statutes that required the cases to be filed where the six defendants lived. What’s more, Bastianelli noted, the parties had never agreed to allow the proceedings to take place in Kenosha County.

The DWD argued on appeal that the circuit court could have proceeded nonetheless or otherwise could have transferred the cases or consolidated them.

The three judges on a District Court of Appeals panel did not buy the agency’s argument, though, and instead affirmed the circuit court’s decision. Among other things, the judges agreed that the six lawsuits had not been filed in the proper venue and therefore failed to comply with the appeals process outlined in state statutes.

That process, the court noted in Wednesday’s decision, is not arbitrary.

“The statutory scheme is not simply about resolving unemployment benefit disputes, but resolving them in the manner the legislature chooses,” according to the decision. “Where the legislature chooses a particular venue, it does so for a reason. It is more like a time deadline that is intended to protect and define the rights of the parties in the litigation.”