Public commenters urge review of unemployment decision; commission votes to resubmit case 3793724

Two public commenters asked the Texas Workforce Commission to revisit an unemployment decision tied to case number 3793724, and commissioners later voted to resubmit that case for further consideration.

John Alexander identified himself as a disabled U.S. veteran and said he was appealing case number “3793724-3.” He told the commission that a hearing officer found he did not intentionally steal merchandise and quoted the officer saying the claimant “did not steal anything,” but that his unemployment was denied. Alexander said he was denied the opportunity to have a coworker who had prevailed in a related unemployment matter testify on his behalf and questioned how the hearing officer determined that employer-owned merchandise had been in the bag at issue when, he said, no photographic evidence was submitted.

A second commenter, Anthony Ray Jr., said he is a former coworker of Alexander and said unemployment authorities previously found no evidence supporting the employer’s theft allegation. Ray said he had evidence to support Alexander’s claim and that a hearing officer had said she would call him back and then did not. He asked commissioners to give Alexander another chance to present supporting testimony.

Later in the meeting, a commissioner made a motion to resubmit case 3793724; the motion was seconded and the chair announced, “We’ll resubmit that case.” One commissioner noted a dissent on the record. The transcript records the motion and second and a statement that the case will be resubmitted; no written decision or final merits finding appears in the transcript for this docketed matter.

The comment period remarks and the later motion to resubmit were recorded during public comment and later in the docketed unemployment insurance section, respectively. The record does not show a new merits hearing date or an outcome beyond the commission’s direction to resubmit the file.