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Unemployment Insurance Handbook for Employers (UCB-201-P)
Section 3 - Appeals
These cases involve a claimant’s eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits and not an employer’s tax liability or responsibility. A decision in one of these cases does NOT decide your UI tax status. It does not control what payroll and employees you must include in your quarterly contribution/wage reports. Tax status cases are covered in Part 1B.
There is a statutory presumption that a claimant is eligible for benefits, unless a specific disqualification applies.
If there is an eligibility issue relating to an individual's claim for benefits, the department will send the interested parties a determination by mail. Benefit determinations are also viewable and printable online to employers from https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/ui/sides. If you disagree with the determination, you have the right to file an appeal by making a written request for a hearing.
An appeal must be in writing:
Or
If appealing more than one determination, you must submit a separate appeal for each. The party appealing the determination is called the appellant. The party responding to the appeal is called the respondent.
The appeal must be postmarked or received within 14 days of the date on which the determination was issued. The deadline is printed in the lower right-hand corner of the determination. The appeal should be submitted, faxed, or mailed to the hearing office listed on the back of the determination under WHERE TO FILE AN APPEAL.
An appeal that is received or postmarked after the deadline specified on the determination is considered a late appeal. A late appeal must include the reason why you are filing late. If an appeal tribunal (an attorney, employed by the state), determines that the appellant’s reason for filing late does not constitute a reason beyond the appellant’s control, the appeal tribunal may dismiss the appeal without a hearing and issue a decision accordingly. The determination will remain the final disposition of the case.
If the appeal tribunal does not dismiss the appeal, the hearing office will schedule a hearing to take testimony about why the appeal was late. Work or personal obligations, being out of town, or misreading or misunderstanding the determination generally are not considered to be reasons beyond an appellant's control.
If the appellant proves that the reason for the late appeal was beyond their control, the appeal tribunal will proceed to the merits of the case or order that a later hearing be scheduled on the merits of the case.
The appellant may withdraw the appeal at any time before an appeal tribunal decision is issued on the merits. A withdrawal may be requested online, by mail, fax or by calling the hearing office. Only the party who requested the hearing (the appellant) may withdraw.
If an appeal is withdrawn, no hearing will be held unless the other party has also filed an appeal. In that case, the issue appealed by that other party will remain the subject of a hearing and an appeal tribunal decision. If all appeals are withdrawn, the determination will remain in effect.
A party who wants to ensure that there will be a hearing in a case is advised to file their own appeal, even if the other party has also filed one.
When you file an appeal (or are notified that the claimant has filed an appeal), contact the hearing office immediately to notify it of scheduling conflicts in the coming month, such as a pre-planned trip, convention, medical appointment, court date, etc., for any intended witness or representative. The hearing office cannot promise any specific date and time, but it may be able to schedule around the conflict or arrange to take testimony of witnesses by telephone.
Do not wait until the hearing notice is issued to notify the hearing office of scheduling conflicts. Also, keep in mind that parties are expected to make the necessary arrangements to attend the hearing, including taking time off from work or school.
Once the hearing has been scheduled, postponements are granted only for exceptional circumstances. A postponement must be requested as soon as the need for the postponement becomes known.
A hearing will be scheduled by one the UI Hearing Office (see Appendix A of this section). A hearing is usually scheduled within a few weeks after an appeal has been filed.
The hearing office mails parties a Hearing Notice at least 6 days in advance of the scheduled hearing. This notice contains important information you will need to know about the scheduled hearing, including:
To see sample hearing notices, see Appendix B.
PLEASE READ BOTH SIDES OF THE HEARING NOTICE CAREFULLY. Make sure that you understand the specified issues and prepare your case with the issues in mind.
Most hearings are scheduled by telephone for all participants. Check your hearing notice to make sure you know how you are to participate.
In a telephone hearing, you must submit all your written evidence to the hearing office and send copies to your opposing party (employer or claimant) in advance of the hearing. In addition, you will need suitable equipment, including a speakerphone or extensions if you have several witnesses.
The hearing office will mail you a notice of the date and time for a telephone hearing. The appeal tribunal will call the participants at the scheduled time. Telephone participants must provide a correct phone number in advance of the scheduled hearing. The appeal tribunal may conduct the hearing without a party or dismiss an appeal by a party who fails to provide a phone number or is unavailable when called.
Other considerations:
The hearing office will mail a Telephone Hearing Instructions (Form C) packet containing copies of relevant documents in the hearing file to the parties before scheduling the phone hearing. If you want to submit other evidence, send it to the hearing office and to the other hearing participants in time for everyone to receive copies before the hearing. The appeal tribunal may refuse to consider evidence that you did not send to all participants before the hearing.
All appeal levels above the hearing level use the record from the hearing (testimony and documents admitted) to make their decisions. As a result, it is important to bring and present all relevant information at the hearing. Because you may get only a few days’ notice that your hearing has been scheduled, it is very important to begin preparing the case right away.
A party may choose to have an attorney or other representative assist at the hearing. If a party plans to have an attorney or representative at the hearing, the party must notify the hearing office as soon as possible of the name, address, and telephone number of the attorney or other representative. Include dates that the attorney or representative is unavailable for a hearing.
Before the hearing, it is helpful to prepare notes of the facts involved in the case for reference during the hearing. Because notes are used only to refresh the memory of the note taker, individuals should not expect to read aloud from them as testimony, nor is it likely that any of these hearing preparation notes will be marked as exhibits by the appeal tribunal. Each party should also write down questions for the other party and important points he or she wishes to make to the appeal tribunal.
A party may request their UI Division file be mailed to them. Please call the UI Hearing Office at (608) 266-8010 to request a copy. The Telephone Hearing Instructions (Form C) mailed to the parties will contain the relevant documents from the file.
Witnesses should be individuals who have actual personal knowledge of and were present to see and hear the events or facts to which they are testifying. An affidavit or written statement (even if notarized) cannot substitute for the personal appearance of a witness. Such a document is hearsay. The witness must appear for the hearing, testify under oath, and answer questions from the appeal tribunal and the other party.
The appeal tribunal cannot decide an issue solely on hearsay evidence, that is, evidence not within a witness’s own personal knowledge. (An exception is that an appeal tribunal may make a decision as to whether the employer failed to provide complete and correct information to the department during the fact-finding investigation based on department records.)
Example: If you want to present evidence that a worker hit another worker, you should have either the worker who was hit or an eyewitness to the event testify. Both the worker who was hit and the eyewitness have personal, first-hand knowledge of what happened (“Joe hit me.” Or “I saw Joe hit him.”), rather than second-hand knowledge or hearsay from a supervisor or other witness (“The worker told me the next day that Joe hit him.”). The appeal tribunal will limit, or exclude, repetitious testimony. If several people witnessed a particular incident, you do not have to bring them all. Choose one or two with the best information.
The appeal tribunal will not permit testimony from a witness that is not relevant or material to the issues involved in the case. Relevant evidence is evidence that tends to make any important fact more probable than without the evidence.
If a witness seems reluctant to appear at the hearing voluntarily or if you wish to obtain specified documents, you may ask the hearing office to prepare a subpoena form for you. You must contact the hearing office to discuss your subpoena request. An attorney representing you may also issue a subpoena. A subpoena requires the witness to appear at the hearing or requires presentation of the requested documents at the hearing. You are responsible for serving the subpoena before the hearing and for providing the required witness fee and mileage payment to the witness. The hearing office will provide further information about serving the subpoena when giving you the form.
Additional witnesses who have knowledge of the case also may be called to testify, including department employees.
A party may wish to introduce documents or other materials such as payroll or attendance records, check stubs, letters, warnings, medical excuses, work rules, work schedules, reports, photographs, video or audio tapes, charts, objects, sample products, etc., to support a case. However, the appeal tribunal may refuse to accept irrelevant evidence, that is, evidence that does not make an important fact more probable than without the evidence.
Photocopies of documents may be submitted. Generally, the person responsible for creating or keeping the records should be present at the hearing to identify, authenticate, and testify about them.
If a video or audio recording is important to prove your case, it must be provided to the hearing office and the other party in advance of the hearing. Please contact the hearing office for instructions.
When the appeal tribunal needs to consider medical information in making a decision, it will send out a standard form UCB-474 Medical Report for completion by the claimant’s doctor. A copy of the completed form is generally provided to both parties before the hearing.
A certified report by a qualified expert is considered evidence sufficient to establish the fact at issue unless contradicted and overcome by other evidence. Accordingly, if the doctor returns a properly completed UCB-474, then their presence at the hearing is not required.
An employer may wish to subpoena the doctor or present an alternate certified report by a qualified expert (or perhaps subpoena a company doctor who examined the claimant) to rebut information or the opinion from the claimant’s doctor.
To see a sample UCB-474 form, see Appendix B.
In determining a claimant’s availability for work or ability to work, the department may request labor market information from labor market analysts employed by the state. Labor market analysts are sometimes called as witnesses at hearings. However, in most cases the labor market analysts can provide the necessary information on a standard form that can be considered evidence. This form, a Certified Expert Report on Labor Market Conditions, provided by Wisconsin’s Conditions of Employment Database, is called a CoED report. In such cases, the labor market analyst need not appear at the hearing.
A copy of the completed CoED report generally is mailed to the parties before a telephone hearing. If the report was not available before the hearing and you want to rebut the information on the form, you may ask the appeal tribunal at the hearing to continue the hearing to a later date. This provides a party with the opportunity to present other expert testimony about the information in the labor market analyst’s report.
In cases involving drug tests, the department may send out its own form for completion by the specimen collector and the drug testing laboratory. This certified report is considered sufficient evidence of the drug test result, that the result was valid, and that the drug test procedures met certain standards. A mere copy of the drug test report received from the lab is not sufficient evidence. If your case involves a drug test and you have not received the forms, please call the UI Hearing Office at (608) 266-8010 immediately.
To see a sample of these drug collection and testing forms, see Appendix B.
The LIRC website, https://lirc.wisconsin.gov/, contains a digest by topic of recent LIRC decisions and court decisions.
These decisions can be quite helpful, but keep in mind that each case is decided on its own unique set of facts.
The appeal tribunal may schedule prehearing conferences pursuant to DWD § 140.07. However, such conferences are scheduled in only the most complex cases. Following the conference, the appeal tribunal will issue an order about such matters as stipulations of fact (both sides agreeing that certain facts are true), limitations on the number of witnesses, stipulations about evidentiary issues, and any other matters that might assist in the disposition of the appeal.
Having a hearing is like “starting from scratch,” as if the determination was never made. Parties present their cases before an appeal tribunal. The appeal tribunal conducts the hearing and makes sure that each side has the opportunity to present evidence and give testimony. The appeal tribunal is responsible for controlling the hearing, making sure that the rules of evidence are followed, and protecting the due process rights of the parties.
Although the hearing is not a court trial, it is a formal proceeding. Hearings are open to the public, though it is very unusual for a person unrelated to your case to attend. To obtain a copy of the digital recording of your hearing, please call (608) 266-3174.
For in-person hearings, the hearing locations throughout the state are accessible to persons with physical disabilities. If certain accommodations are necessary to meet your physical needs, you should contact the hearing office immediately so that the appropriate arrangements can be made.
If you need an interpreter to properly participate in the hearing or present your case, you should immediately contact the hearing office. Interpreters for numerous languages are available, but the hearing office requires advance notice and will provide additional time for the hearing.
Persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech-impaired may dial 7-1-1 for Wisconsin Relay Service.
Generally, both the claimant and the employer should attend the hearing. However, an employer is not required to attend if the issue in dispute was raised by the department, such as why the claimant failed to follow required filing procedures or did not accept a valid job offer from a different employer. Contact the hearing office listed on the hearing notice if you have a question about the need to attend.
You must report in person if you are scheduled to appear in person. If you are scheduled to appear by telephone, you must be available at the telephone number you provide to the hearing office. Follow the instructions on your hearing notice.
A record is made of the hearing by digital recording. As such, it is important to speak loudly and clearly, not to rustle papers, and not to interrupt, argue or talk at the same time as someone else.
While the appeal tribunal will follow administrative procedural rules on burden of proof and cross-examination, and will limit the use of hearsay evidence, statutory and common law rules of evidence are not controlling.
The appeal tribunal will introduce himself or herself, identify the hearing participants, explain the procedures, summarize the determination issued by the department, define the issues involved in the case, and ask both parties for brief statements about their contentions. The brief statement is not intended to include all the details of your case. Rather, it should provide a quick description of what you are claiming. Two examples are the following: “I believe the claimant quit” or “I discharged the claimant for misconduct.”
The appeal tribunal will determine the order in which the parties and any witnesses testify, swear them in, and question them. The appeal tribunal is responsible for getting all the information necessary to understand the facts of your case and to obtain a sufficient record of testimony and other evidence presented in order to make a decision.
The appeal tribunal may exclude witnesses from participating in the hearing until their testimony is necessary so that the witnesses are not influenced by the testimony of others. Similarly, the appeal tribunal may limit or exclude the testimony of witnesses if the testimony is repetitive, irrelevant, immaterial, or based solely on hearsay.
In addition to presenting their own testimony, a party will be given a chance to ask questions of the other party and their witnesses (called cross-examination). Cross-examining a witness involves asking questions about that person's testimony or asking him or her to provide additional information important to your case. It may be helpful to bring a pen and paper to take notes during the testimony.
Cross examination does not involve providing your own testimony about what happened (you will get your own chance to do that). For example, the claimant's witness might testify that he worked with the claimant on the same shift and did not see the claimant smoking. You can cross examine the witness by asking questions such as, “Were you with the claimant during the entire shift?", but you cannot argue with him (for example, by saying, “The supervisor told me he was smoking on the shop floor.”).
You (or your representative) may object to certain questions or to the admission of certain evidence. Before ruling on the objection, the appeal tribunal may ask the other party to respond to the objection.
After both parties have had the chance to present their cases and question the other party’s witnesses, the appeal tribunal will end the hearing.
The party with the burden of proof, that is, the party who has the duty of affirmatively proving its case, depends on the issue or issues involved at the hearing.
For example, if an employer discharged a claimant, then it is up to the employer to prove that the claimant is ineligible for benefits because, for instance, he or she was fired for misconduct or substantial fault. It is the employer's burden to prove that the reason(s) for the discharge disqualify the employee from receiving benefits.
However, when a claimant quits a job, the general rule is that the claimant is ineligible for benefits. In this case, the claimant has the burden of proving that he or she is eligible for the payment of benefits because one of the statutory exceptions applies or because he or she has met the requalification requirements.
Most cases involve proof by a preponderance of the evidence. This means that whoever has the burden of proof must show that it is more probable than not that the claim that the party is making is true. For example, if an employer is trying to prove that an employee was discharged for misconduct, the employer must convince the appeal tribunal that it is more probable than not that the claimant engaged in the misconduct for which they were discharged.
If the employer claims that the person engaged in some criminal behavior (such as theft), then it must provide clear and convincing evidence. This level of proof is higher than by a preponderance of the evidence but is not as high as “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It is a degree of proof that requires a firm belief or conviction in the mind of the appeal tribunal that what the employer claims is correct.
If the appellant (whether claimant or employer) does not attend the hearing, then the appeal is dismissed. The determination remains in effect and becomes final (unless good cause for failing to appear is shown). The appeal tribunal will wait 10 minutes before dismissing the appeal.
A respondent who does not attend the hearing gives up the chance to present evidence and testimony at the hearing (unless good cause for failing to appear is shown). The appeal tribunal will wait 10 minutes before proceeding with the hearing without the respondent.
If a party fails to appear for a hearing but believes there was good cause for failing to appear, they may provide a written explanation of the reasons for not appearing. A party may submit the written explanation to the hearing office at any time before a decision is issued or within the 21-day appeal period after a decision is mailed. If, after review, the appeal tribunal decides there was no good cause for failing to appear, the request for hearing will be denied. If the appeal tribunal decides there was good cause for failing to appear, a hearing will be scheduled on the merits of the case.
A person’s illness, an accident, or unexpected circumstances that would prevent a person from being able to attend a hearing may be good cause. Forgetting about the hearing, writing the wrong date on your calendar, getting lost, or getting stuck in traffic generally are not considered to be good cause.
After the hearing, the appeal tribunal will review the testimony and the exhibits received at the hearing, decide how the unemployment insurance law applies to the facts, and issue a written decision. The Appeal Tribunal Decision or ATD, will be based solely on the evidence presented at the hearing. The appeal tribunal’s decision can change the ruling made in the determination.
Ordinarily in a benefits case, parties should receive a copy of the appeal tribunal’s decision within approximately two weeks of the hearing. If you have not received a benefits decision within three weeks, please contact the hearing office. This is important because if the mail was misdirected, you could miss the deadline to appeal the appeal tribunal’s decision.
Parties are sometimes confused when they get a decision because it looks like the appeal tribunal got the facts wrong. However, this may occur because the parties presented two different versions of events (that is, contradictory evidence) at the hearing. Deciding which version of the facts is more credible can prove difficult. The appeal tribunal does their best to determine credibility and make the appropriate findings of fact.
REMINDER: A decision in a benefit case does not decide your UI tax status.
Example: A benefit decision is issued stating that a claimant was an employee and not an independent contractor. That decision will not automatically decide that issue for the employer's UI tax purposes. The issue involved in the benefit case is not whether the employer is liable for UI taxes; it is whether the claimant is eligible for benefits.
The decision of the appeal tribunal may be appealed to the Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC), and LIRC's decision may be appealed to the courts. For detailed information on these further appeals, see Parts 2 and 3.
Updated: August 19, 2024
DWD Contact Information
201 E. Washington Ave
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266-3131
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