Lawsuit filed over delays at Employment Commission

RICHMOND — Five women are suing the leader of the Virginia agency that handles unemployment benefits, alleging “gross failures” to provide needed help as required by law amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The class-action lawsuit was filed Thursday morning in federal court on behalf of the plaintiffs by several legal aid groups and their pro bono partners. Named as the defendant is Ellen Marie Hess, head of the Virginia Employment Commission.

The lawsuit alleges the commission has violated the rights of Virginians who have applied for benefits and gotten no response or who had their benefits abruptly halted and faced lengthy delays in having their case adjudicated.

The lawsuit does not allege that everyone who files a claim with the VEC is entitled to benefits, the groups bringing the suit said in a news release.

“But every Virginian who files a claim for benefits is entitled — by law — to a prompt response from the VEC. And everyone who has begun to receive benefits is entitled — by law — to continue receiving benefits until a VEC deputy decides otherwise,” the release says.

A spokeswoman for the commission declined comment.

The agency has been swamped with an unprecedented number of applications for benefits since the start of the pandemic. But problems have persisted for over a year, leading critics to say Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration has not done enough to resolve the issues.

Virginians unable to get answers from the commission have turned to news reporters and social media, and flooded the offices of local elected officials with calls for help.

In the news release, the legal groups noted Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner recently wrote to Northam urging him to speed the distribution of unemployment benefits.

“I hope you can agree that for constituents still experiencing delays the lack of pandemic unemployment insurance is unconscionable,” Warner wrote in the letter sent in late March.

Data kept by the federal government also shows Virginia has been particularly slow in dealing with certain claims. For the fourth calendar quarter of 2020, the commonwealth ranked last among all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for timeliness in deciding “nonmonetary issues,” such as why someone’s job ended, the lawsuit notes.

A spokeswoman for Northam did not respond to a request for comment.

One plaintiff, Lenita Gibson of Portsmouth, was laid off in February 2020 from a shipyard, according to the complaint. Gibson, who had worked in shipyards for roughly 20 years, filed for unemployment and received payment for about three weeks before her benefits were halted without explanation.

The lawsuit says Gibson waited for months for word from the commission, often trying without success to get through on the call system, until receiving a form letter dated December 2020 that said her payments would resume while she waited for her case to be reviewed by a deputy.

“Nevertheless, Gibson has not received benefits,” the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs are seeking the adjudication and payment of their unemployment benefits and a prohibition against “further violations of law.”