Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board reports faster case processing, cites vandalism, threat and senior retirements

The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board reported on June 18 that it reduced its case inventory and average case age in May while facing two security incidents, an office disruption in Los Angeles and senior staff transitions.

Board Chair Michael Allen said the agency “was able to close 816 cases for the past month. Of those 764 were done were done with our CAM system, and 52 were done under our legacy system.” He credited staff across levels for progress on the pandemic-era caseload backlog.

Chief Executive Officer and Chief ALJ Michael Koutre reviewed workload and timeliness measures and said, “We sit at 38.8 days to close May,” noting that the board’s average remains above the U.S. Department of Labor target of 30 days but well below the national case average. Koutre said May’s field work closed about 7% of appeals within 30 days and 34% within 45 days, and that the agency reduced overall inventory by “over 4,600 cases.”

Rebecca Bach, supervising administrative law judge for appellate operations, said appellate operations met several Department of Labor benchmarks for the month, reporting it closed “48.7 percent within 45 days” in May and “93.2 percent of our cases, within 75 days.” She said the unit’s case-age measure was “26.6” days and described the month as a “very strong start to this new Department of Labor year.”

Koutre reported two security incidents since the last meeting: vandalism at the San Jose office that “resulted in property damage by way of broken windows,” and a threat made against a Southern California judge that prompted California Highway Patrol involvement and an ongoing investigation. He also said the Los Angeles field office closed for a week because of protests, and staff who could not telework were moved to other locations so “we had no loss in operational capacity.”

The board also heard personnel updates. Koutre announced that Judge Erica Diaz of the Inland office will leave to take a post as a commissioner for the Superior Court of Los Angeles. He and others recognized Assistant Chief Hugh Harrison’s retirement after a 43-year career with the agency; Koutre described Harrison as the project owner of the CAM system development and a long-standing author of reference materials and processes used agencywide.

Robert Silva, chief of administrative services, gave recruitment and training updates, noting 10 recruitments pending statewide and persistent hiring challenges in the Bay Area. Silva said a departmentwide contract for CPR training was executed with funding allocated to the 2025–26 fiscal year and that training dates will begin in early July. He also said the administration’s return-to-office order takes effect in 13 days and that the agency is collecting updated telework agreements; after review he does not anticipate space or equipment issues for the July 1 return date.

Chief information staff reported the appellate implementation of CAMS is on schedule and expected to be completed by the next board meeting in mid-July, with legacy appellate systems migrated into CAMS.

Discussion only: board members asked questions about the Los Angeles office closure, the spike in tax rulings (500 new tax cases in a month), and staffing. Koutre said he would investigate the cause of the tax spike and report back. No new formal policy actions or votes on program changes were taken during the reports section beyond the earlier approval of the May 21 minutes.

The board recognized staff achievements and retirements and closed the item after questions from board members.