There was a telephone hearing in my case with an Appeals Examiner, but I missed the hearing. What should I do? Wait until you receive the Appeals Examiner’s Decision. It should arrive in your mail about 10 days after the hearing. When you receive that Decision, you have 10 days from the date the Appeals Examiner mailed it to ask that the hearing be reopened. You must file your request in writing with the APPEALS BUREAU, not the Industrial Commission. This information is explained in the document entitled “IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR HEARING” you received with your hearing information. Once you file your request to reopen, the Appeals Examiner will issue an Order. If the Appeals Examiner denies your request, then you can appeal your case to the Industrial Commission.
I filed a request with the Appeals Examiner to reopen my hearing, but I’m afraid he or she won’t rule on it before the time runs out to appeal the Decision of Appeals Examiner about the unemployment benefits. What should I do? Wait for the Appeals Examiner to issue an Order on your request to reopen the hearing. If the Appeals Examiner grants you a new hearing, the Appeals Bureau will schedule that new hearing as soon as possible and your case will continue with the Appeals Examiner. If the Appeals Examiner denies your request, that order starts the clock over on your appeal rights of the Decision regarding the unemployment benefits. You will have fourteen (14) days from the date the Appeals Examiner issues the Order denying your request for a new hearing to appeal to the Commission. You can appeal that Order denying your request to reopen the hearing AND the Decision you wanted to reopen.
PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS – FILE YOUR APPEAL ON TIME AND IN THE RIGHT PLACE!!!!! Who can file an appeal with the Commission? Any interested party. Interested parties usually include the claimant, the employer, and the Idaho Department of Labor. If the employer files the appeal, the appeal must be prepared and signed by an individual usually authorized to deal with unemployment insurance matters, such as the human resources manager, or an officer of the firm.
How can I file an appeal with the Commission? There are three ways you can file an appeal with the Idaho Industrial Commission:
You can deliver it in person to our office at Building #2, 11321 W Chinden Blvd, Boise, ID 83714; mail it to us at: Industrial Commission, P.O. Box 83720, Boise, Idaho, 83720-0041, or fax it to us 208-332-7558. If personally delivered, the appeal must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on the last day to appeal.
You can mail your appeal. The appeal shall be deemed to be filed on the date of mailing as determined by the postmark applied by the U.S. Postal Service on the envelope containing the appeal. Private Postage Meter stamps will not substitute for a postmark. If you use a postage meter to apply postage, protect yourself and make sure the post office cancels it. If there is no postmark applied by the U.S. Postal Service, the date the Commission receives the envelope will become the date of filing.
You can fax your appeal or submit via efile. IF YOU FAX YOUR APPEAL, PLEASE NOTE: Appeals transmitted by facsimile to the Commission and received by 11:59 p.m. on a business day shall be deemed filed on that day. An appeal transmitted by facsimile and received by the Commission on a weekend, holiday, or after 11:59 p.m. on a business day shall be deemed filed on the next business day. The Industrial Commission is located in Boise, Mountain Time, and the time the Commission receives your appeal over our fax machine will establish the filing time, not the time your fax machine says it transmitted the fax.
Is there a special form I need to use to file my appeal with the Industrial Commission?No, any piece of paper will do so long as it indicates that it is an appeal of an unemployment insurance decision issued by an Appeals Examiner and is signed by the party filing the appeal. Please include your name, current mailing address, and the docket number of the Decision you are appealing along with a statement indicating that you are appealing or protesting the Decision the Appeals Examiner issued in your case.
Can I file my appeal with the Department of Labor like I filed my other appeal? NO!! The only place you can file your appeal is with the Industrial Commission’s main office in Boise. The Commission WILL NOT accept appeals filed through the Idaho Department of Labor. This is explained in the Appeals Examiner’s Decision under “APPEAL RIGHTS.”
Do I need an attorney? That depends on who you are. Claimants do not need attorneys to file appeals with the Industrial Commission. Employers that are business entities, such as corporations, partnerships, Limited Liability Corporations (LLC) or Professional Corporations (PC) must be represented by counsel for any reason other than filing the initial appeal. For example, the human resources manager files the appeal and then discovers some additional documentation that the Commission should consider. In order to properly put that additional documentation before the Commission, the employer will need to ask the Commission for a new hearing to take additional evidence. That request must come through an attorney. Idaho law does not permit business entities to represent themselves when they seek new hearings before the Commission or an opportunity to argue their cases in legal briefs.
I was represented by an attorney at the Appeals Examiner’s hearing and I want my attorney to represent me at the Commission. Does my attorney have to do anything?YES, your attorney must file a Notice of Appearance with the Commission. Because the Idaho Industrial Commission is an agency separate from the Idaho Department of Labor and because Unemployment Insurance information is governed by strict confidentiality rules, the Commission cannot release any information to a non-interested party. Until your attorney files a notice of appearance with the Commission, he or she is a non-interested party and therefore will not be allowed to participate in your case.
Who pays my attorney? You do. There is no provision in the Idaho Employment Security Law allowing for the recovery of attorney fees from either the unemployment insurance fund or an opposing party.
What else should my attorney know? The only rules of procedure that apply to unemployment insurance appeals before the Commission are the Rules of Appellate Practice and Procedure Under the Idaho Employment Security Law. Neither the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure nor the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure apply to unemployment insurance appeals.
I use an unemployment claim management firm (i.e. Talx UC Express) and they represented me at the Appeals Examiner’s hearing. Can they represent me at the Commission? No. Only interested parties can file and participate in unemployment insurance appeals before the Commission. Professional employer representative firms are not interested parties and therefore cannot file appeals on behalf of their clients with the Commission as they can with the Idaho Department of Labor.
I received something in the mail called a “Notice of Filing of Appeal.” Do I have to do anything? No. The “Notice of Filing of Appeal” simply informs all of the interested parties in your case that an appeal has been filed with the Commission.
I have some additional documents, witness statements, or other information I did not submit to the Appeals Examiner. Can I submit them to the Commission? Yes. You may submit to the Commission anything you believe is relevant to your case. You must submit it within seven (7) days from the date stamp found on the certificate of service accompanying the compact disc of the Appeals Examiner’s hearing. The additional evidence you submit will not automatically be included in the record. The Commission will review the additional evidence and determine whether it should be included in the evidentiary record created during the Appeal Examiner’s hearing.
I want another chance to tell my story. Can I ask for a hearing with the Commission? Yes, you can ask for a new hearing before the Commission. However, the Commission only grants those requests when there are extraordinary circumstances. If you wish to request a new hearing, you must send the request in writing, within seven (7) days from the date stamp found on the certificate of service accompanying the compact disc of the Appeals Examiner’s hearing. You must explain why you feel a new hearing is necessary. The other information you should include in a request for a new hearing is more fully explained in the Rules of Appellate Practice and Procedure Under the Idaho Employment Security Law.
My spouse/son/daughter/friend filed an appeal with the Commission and asked me to find out what’s going on with the case. How can I get that information? You can’t. The information in unemployment insurance appeals is confidential. Therefore, the staff at the Commission can only talk to and provide information about a particular case to the named parties in that case and their representatives. Representatives are only entitled to information under a power of attorney or similar instrument that has been filed in the case with the Commission.
I filed my appeal weeks ago. What’s taking so long? The Commission reviews unemployment insurance cases in the order in which they are filed. A referee designated by the Commission will review all of the documents in the file and listen to the audio recording of the hearing and will prepare a decision for the Commissioners to review. Once the Commissioners have reviewed and signed that Decision and Order, you will receive a copy by mail. To ensure that the parties in the case received due process and the decision is consistent with the law, the process takes time.
How can I get more information about my case? Call the Commission and ask to speak to someone in unemployment insurance appeals. If you have to leave a message, make sure to include your name, telephone number where you can be reached, and if you have it handy, your case number. The Commission staff makes every effort to return calls the same day in which they are received.
Can I get information by email?No. The Commission staff can only disclose case information to interested parties. Because we have no way to verify that an emailed request is from an interested party, Commission staff WILL NOT respond to specific inquiries regarding unemployment insurance appeals cases received through email. If you send a request for information through email, you will receive a response explaining that the Commission does not respond to email inquiries and directing you to call the Commission with your question or request for information. The best way to get information about your case is by phone.
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