Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board reports faster case processing, outlines language, video and staffing plans

The Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board on March 19, 2025, reported measurable improvements in appeals processing after rolling out a new case management system and discussed next steps on language accessibility, potential video recording for hearings, and workforce and hiring issues.

Chair Michael Allen opened the meeting by acknowledging his recent reappointment and thanking the governor and Senate Rules Committee for his confirmation. "A huge thank you to Governor Newsom ... I am so very grateful," Allen said, before turning to operational updates.

Why it matters: the board’s processing speed affects how quickly Californians and employers get final decisions on unemployment insurance appeals and whether the board meets U.S. Department of Labor standards that influence federal oversight and funding.

Chief Administrative Law Judge Michael Koutre told the board that appeals workloads stabilized in February after a late‑year uptick. Koutre said the field issued just over 24,000 decisions in February, that combined lower incoming appeals with higher dispositions reduced inventory by about 2,500 cases, and that the average case age fell to roughly 50 days — a decline of three days from the prior report. "Our average case age was reduced by 3 more days to 50 days," Koutre said. He noted the board is not yet at a 30‑day target but has improved from much higher averages during the pandemic.

Judge Rebecca Bock, chief of appellate operations, reported that appellate units met multiple Department of Labor benchmarks for the reporting month: 28.5 percent of cases closed within 45 days in February (bringing the year-to-date to 66 percent), 85.7 percent closed within 75 days for the month (93.5 percent year-to-date), and an average appellate case age of 38.4 days. "We have met all 3 numbers the Department of Labor tracks, this month," Bock said.

Board members and staff discussed several operational and policy items:

- Language access: Acting Chief Information Officer Mark Smith said CAMS-generated documents already produce English, Spanish and Vietnamese output and that the next languages to be added are Chinese, Tagalog and Korean. "We are working on the Chinese rollout, and we have identified the next couple of languages will be Tagalog and Korean," Smith said. Smith added the translations are produced by contracted language firms.

- Video for hearings: IT and operations staff said the technical capability for video exists and that video is already used for sign-language interpreted hearings. However, they cautioned that video would substantially increase storage needs and raise privacy and redaction challenges because visual material (papers or computer screens) can reveal personally identifiable information that is not easily redacted. Smith said the decision is operational and legal rather than purely technical.

- Disaster unemployment assistance and workload monitoring: Koutre reported fewer than 250 appellants identified so far in disaster unemployment assistance tied to recent Los Angeles fires and said it is difficult to separate fire‑related UI spikes from other layoffs; he said the Employment Development Department is expected to publish related data for February later in the month.

- Staffing and hiring: Koutre reported one recent hire at the office‑technician level, with 16 pending support hires across eight offices and five classifications. The board noted there are 11 field offices statewide. Koutre and members said they would continue to watch workforce impacts from any future changes in state in‑person work directives.

Other operational notes included the board’s upcoming national meeting representation by Judge Bock at the National Association of Unemployment Insurance Appeals Professionals and an update that the board closed 842 cases last month, 803 in CAMS and 89 under the legacy system.

Votes at a glance

- Approval of minutes (02/19/2025): motion to approve the minutes passed unanimously, 5–0; outcome: approved.

Public comment at the start of the meeting was reported as none, and no items were announced for closed session during the open meeting. Chair Allen adjourned the session after the reports.

The board said it will return with a retrospective report on pandemic-era changes, modernization and accomplishments next month and expects more detailed information about potential workforce scheduling impacts as administrative guidance becomes available.