COLORADO – Your Hearing May Be Scheduled in a Block
• To clear up the backlog of unemployment hearings due to the pandemic, Colorado will begin scheduling some hearings on a rotating block basis. What this means is that some hearings will be scheduled to occur sometime during a 4-hour window. If you have a hearing scheduled as a part of this temporary measure, it is important that you and your witnesses remain available during the block of time.
• If you are the appealing party in the hearing and you do not answer, the hearing will be dismissed. If you do participate as the appealing party and the claimant does not answer the call, the hearing will proceed and adjudicated based on the evidence provided in the hearing.
• We are closely monitoring the incoming hearing documents and will alert you if your hearing falls into this rotating block. We suspect that additional states may employ this method to clear their backlog due to the guidance received from the U.S. Department of Labor. If you have any questions about this change, please reach out to your Hearings Analyst.
OKLAHOMA – Benefit Duration Cut in 2023
• Beginning January 1, 2023, the maximum numbers of weeks of unemployment benefits a claimant can collect will be cut to 16, down from the current 26 weeks. The new law also includes a provision that starting in 2025, the number of benefit weeks available will be based on the unemployment rate in Oklahoma and can fluctuate between 16-21 weeks in duration.
