Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission --
Summary of Wisconsin Court Decision relating to Unemployment Insurance

Subject: Cherie Ray  v. LIRC, No. 2010-CV-17626  (Wis. Cir. Ct., Milwaukee Co., July 27, 2011)

Digest Codes: PC 712.1 - Hearing, Failure to Appear - Hearing notice not received

The claimant, who had a benefit claim pending, moved to another state to live with her sister. She made no arrangements for her mail to be forwarded to her or for her daughter, who still lived in the claimant's house in Wisconsin, to monitor her mail for her. Based on these facts, an ALJ found, and LIRC agreed, that the claimant did not have good cause for failing to appear at a hearing on her claim, which she missed because she never saw the notice of hearing.  The claimant appealed.

Held: Affirmed. The claimant's own testimony supports the finding that her failure to learn of the hearing was the result of her own failure to either have her mail forwarded or to have her daughter monitor her mail.   As a result she is to entitled to a rehearing on the merits because she cannot meet the "good cause" standard.  The court cannot make a different decision based on feelings about the worthiness of the claimant's case on the merits or because of her sympathetic situation.

Please note that this is a summary prepared by staff of the commission, not a verbatim reproduction of the court decision.

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