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Claimants tell Workforce Commission hearing officers can seem prosecutorial and portals offer no visibility
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Summary
Two public commenters urged the Workforce Commission to clarify hearing officers’ roles and fix communication failures in appeals, saying clerical errors, lack of portal visibility and unreturned ombudsman inquiries left claimants without recourse.
Vicky Flower, a citizen who identified herself during the meeting, told the Workforce Commission that hearing officers sometimes act like prosecutors rather than neutral adjudicators and that claimants lack visibility into evidence submitted to the tribunal.
"Are hearing officers supposed to act as a neutral judge figure or prosecuting attorney or something else entirely?" Flower asked, saying the answer often seems to depend on how much testimony is in the record. She described clerical errors in a loved one’s case, unanswered fax confirmations and an online portal that provides "0 visibility" to a case's submitted evidence, which she said prevents claimants from checking what was filed.
Flower also asked whether staff have been reprimanded or retrained when mistakes occur and whether the commission actually ordered a tribunal hearing after a timely commission review request was filed. She said outreach to the public-facing ombudsman and other channels resulted only in auto replies and no substantive follow-up.
Another commenter, Shantuana Johnson, said she filed a claim in December 2025, appealed in a timely manner, and—after a tribunal hearing on March 11—received a denial on March 18. Johnson said she later submitted documentation from her former employer’s HR head indicating the employer supported her receiving unemployment benefits and that the employer would be willing to assist with reemployment. "I am at the point of homelessness," she told commissioners and asked them to reverse or reconsider the denial.
Commission staff did not offer an on-the-spot legal ruling in response to the public commenters' requests for clarification; the meeting proceeded to the scheduled docket business. The comments flagged two recurring concerns for the Commission: whether hearing officers are maintaining the neutral adjudicatory role expected in quasi‑judicial appeal processes, and whether the Commission’s communication and case-visibility systems adequately allow claimants to confirm evidence and receive timely responses.
The Commission did not announce any immediate changes to procedure during the meeting. Public commenters requested clearer statements about procedural rights, staff training or corrective action on clerical errors and better responsiveness from ombudsman channels.
