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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mandatory Community Service for the Unemployed?

Republican lawmakers in North Carolina have introduced a bill requiring 5 hours a week of community service for anyone receiving more than 8 weeks of unemployment benefits and 10 hours a week of community service for anyone receiving unemployment benefits for more than a year.

Read more at the Allen Law Blog.

I am a North Carolina unemployment appeals hearing lawyer and I will help you fight for your benefits in a telephone hearing or an in-person hearing. Feel free to give me a call at (919) 886-5005 or email me at richard.d.allen.esq (at) gmail (dot) com today to discuss your case. All discussions are completely confidential. You can also visit my website at http://www.allenlawnc.com.

North Carolina Cracking Down on Unemployment Benefits Fraud

While North Carolina's unemployment benefits program may not provide households with a large amount of money weekly, the law is clear that you must be unemployed to receive them.

Given the Employment Security Commission's funding issues, it's no surprise that the state would crack down on people who are allegedly drawing unemployment benefits while working on the side.

Three Morganton residents were recently charged with continuing to receive ESC benefits while employed. One is charged with earning over $20,000 working for a temp agency while still receiving ESC benefits.

Read more at the Allen Law Blog.

Providing false information to the Employment Security Commission is a misdemeanor punishable by a sentence of 45 days in jail. I am a North Carolina unemployment benefits attorney. I also handle criminal matters. If you or a loved one is charged with unemployment benefits fraud in North Carolina, contact me at (919) 886-5005 to discuss your legal options.

Friday, February 18, 2011

North Carolina Unemployment Appeals Telephone Hearings: How Do They Work?



Many North Carolina unemployment appeals hearings are conducted over the telephone. While this may seem surprising, telephone hearings allow cases to be handled quickly and save employers and claimants (the ex-employees who have filed unemployment claims but have been denied benefits) time and money that would be expended on traveling to a North Carolina Employment Security Commission office.

Speak to a North Carolina Unemployment Appeals Hearing Attorney - Call Now: (919) 886-5005



The appeals referee, whose role is similar to that of a judge, calls the hearing participants (the claimant, the employer, their lawyers,* and their witnesses) at the time specified in the Notice of Telephone Hearing. Together, they all participate in a conference call. If the employer and the claimant agree that the claimant was discharged and did not quit, the employer's lawyer goes first, and presents evidence to support the employer's position, including testimony from the employer's witnesses. The claimant's lawyer then has the opportunity to cross-examine the employer's witnesses.

Next, the claimant's lawyer presents the claimant's side of the story, interviewing the claimant's witnesses and presenting documents that support the claimant's argument that he or she was wrongfully denied unemployment benefits.

The employer's lawyer then presents a closing argument. Lastly, the claimant's lawyer presents a closing argument, arguing that the employee should not have been denied his or her benefits.

After the telephone hearing is complete, the appeals referee considers all the evidence and sends the employer and employee a decision in the mail about three weeks later.

I am a North Carolina unemployment appeals hearing lawyer and I will help you fight for your benefits in a telephone hearing or an in-person hearing. In fact, my fee is lower for telephone hearings because they require less travel time for me. Feel free to give me a call at (919) 886-5005 or email me at richard.d.allen.esq (at) gmail (dot) com today to discuss your case. All discussions are completely confidential.

Visit my North Carolina unemployment appeals page for more information or stop by my website: http://www.allenlawnc.com.

Photo by el_monstrito.


*In this scenario, both the claimant and the employer are represented by lawyers. This is not always the case in unemployment appeals hearings. 

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Do I Need a Lawyer for My North Carolina Unemployment Appeals Hearing?



North Carolina unemployment appeals hearings are not held in court. They are "quasi-judicial" hearings, which means that they are like trials, but more flexible and less formal. One of the ways that these hearings are less formal than court cases is that both sides - the employer and the ex-employee, now known as the claimant - are allowed to present their side of the story without using a lawyer.

However, don't let the lack of the formality fool you. These hearings have serious consequences. Thousands of dollars in benefits can be at stake.*

Speak to a North Carolina Unemployment Appeals Hearing Attorney - Call Now: (919) 886-5005



The person who will decide if the claimant receives benefits may be an Appeals Referee, Hearing Officer or Special Deputy Commissioner. These officials are not judges, but act like judges, deciding cases based on North Carolina law and past unemployment appeals decisions.

In order to have the best chance at winning an appeal, a claimant has to know the relevant North Carolina laws and statutes and has to be ready to present his or her evidence in the most favorable way. If you don't feel that you can do this yourself, you should strongly consider hiring a North Carolina unemployment appeals lawyer to present your case as forcefully as possible and to fight for your rights.

If the claimant's former employer hire a lawyer for the hearing, the claimant has yet another reason to hire a lawyer - to make sure that the claimant's case is presented as well as the employer's case and to find the weaknesses in the legal arguments and the evidence presented by the employer.

I am a North Carolina unemployment appeals hearing lawyer and I will help you fight for your benefits in a telephone hearing or an in-person hearing. Feel free to give me a call at (919) 886-5005 or email me at richard.d.allen.esq (at) gmail (dot) com today to discuss your case. All discussions are completely confidential. You can also visit my website at http://www.allenlawnc.com.

Image by umjanedoan.

*If a claimant loses at an appeals hearing, the claimant may then appeal his or her case to the full Employment Security Commission and then to a North Carolina superior court, but the legal costs of such appeals are often greater than claimants can afford. It is best to fight hard for benefits from the very first appeals hearing. 

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

North Carolina Employment Security Commission (ESC) Sends Letters to Claimants Admitting Payment Mistakes. Were You Underpaid? And If You Were Overpaid, Do You Have to Pay the ESC?

The News and Observer reports that many recent North Carolina recipients of unemployment benefits from the North Carolina Employment Security Commission (ESC) received incorrect checks due to accounting errors.

Some recipients were underpaid. Others were overpaid. The ESC says that those who were overpaid can apply for a waiver and have the overpayment forgiven. That would mean that the recipients would not have to pay back the State of North Carolina.

The News and Observer states that deadline for submitting waivers is October 8 - less than two weeks from today.

If you were overpaid and need assistance with submitting your waiver to the ESC, or if you were underpaid and need help obtaining the money you are owed from the ESC, please do not hesitate to email me at richard.d.allen.esq@gmail.com or call me at (919) 886-5005.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Durham Employment Lawyer

Greetings and welcome to what I hope will be a source of useful information about the ins and outs of employment law in North Carolina.

If you live in Durham or Chapel Hill, North Carolina and have an employment law question, contact me by email at richard.d.allen.esq[at]gmail.com, or call me at (919) 886-5005. If you would like to learn more about my practice, visit my website, http://www.allenlawnc.com

Thanks for reading!