Fight Over Alabama’s Unemployment Backlog Headed to the U.S. Supreme Court

By Sarah Whites-Koditschek | swhites-koditschek@al.com The U.S. Supreme Court this fall will take up a case about Alabama’s troubled handling of unemployment claims during the pandemic. The high court scheduled oral arguments in the case for Monday, Oct. 7. “Petitioners have experienced lengthy delays in receiving unemployment compensation benefits they believe they are owed,” the plaintiffs said in their petition for certiorari to the court. A group of Alabamians sued in state court in 2022, arguing they were wrongly denied unemployment benefits and appeal opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a backlog of cases stacked up, Gov. Kay Ivey in 2022 called it “outrageous”. In their lawsuit, the group argued the system was excessively delayed. Some people who did receive benefits later got notices from the department demanding repayment, sometimes thousands of dollars, without access to appeal. The Alabama Department of Labor declined to comment for this story because of ongoing litigation. In June of 2023, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Labor Department and Secretary Fitzgerald Washington, finding that the plaintiffs had to go through the full administrative appeals process before filing a lawsuit. The department argued that Alabamians who had problems with their unemployment should...