Lawyer Representing Both Employers and Employees in Colorado Unemployment Insurance Matters
We will increase your odds of success in unemployment insurance disputes.
We handle eligibility appeals, overpayment problems and audits. Representing employees and employers.
Unemployment Insurance Colorado Appeal Attorney Fees
Call us to chat for free about how we might help you. If you hire us, unemployment appeals are handled for a flat fee. For $1100 we take over the entire handling of your appeal and attend your appeal hearing by telephone. For your fee, we cover as many client conferences as necessary, prepare all filings with the Department of Labor, conduct prehearing investigation and witness preparation, obtain subpoenas of witnesses or records, and act as your legal representative at your hearing. Clients can also hire us to review their files and consult about the law and strategies, but not to represent them at a hearing. The charge for such a consult is $480.
We charge $ 300 per hour to appeal hearing officer decisions to the industrial claims appeals panel. The panel will not usually hear new evidence or arguments which could have been raised before the hearing officer, but were not. So our best advice is to get legal representation at the hearing officer stage, where chances of success are highest.
The appeal hearing before the hearing officer is your only chance to present all your arguments, witnesses and evidence. You don’t get another opportunity to present new evidence. If you don’t have a lawyer for your hearing, you are endangering your claim. The hearing officer makes a ruling based on the documents and testimony introduced during the hearing. You cannot supplement your evidence or information on a later appeal.
Before you file your appeal of the deputy’s decision, or respond to the appeal from the other side, you should have a lawyer. What you say in your appeal documents must track the law. Careless statements will hurt you at the hearing. New facts or arguments, not contained in the Appeals file, cannot be introduced for the first time at the hearing. Anything that you wish to include in the hearing must be provided ahead of time to the hearing officer and to other interested parties.
Talk to a lawyer before you quit work. The law provides that under many circumstances an employee who quits work may still qualify for benefits. But never assume that you will qualify for unemployment if you quit.
Talk to a lawyer before you write a letter to the employer explaining what happened, or apologizing. These often backfire. For example, one client wrote his supervisor to acknowledge he had made a mistake and ask for leniency. To the hearing officer, this was an admission the employee was wrong.
If you are an employer and do not want to pay the worker benefits, make sure your documentation will support denial of benefits when you terminate. Just because you have a right to fire a worker does not mean that worker is ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
We Know the Issues Involved
It is not the hearing officer’s role to explain the Colorado Employment Security Act, or tell you about cases interpreting the Act. If you are a claimant and the employer wins the appeal, your benefits will be stopped and you will be asked to repay benefits you already received. It is important to have legal advice. People lose employment hearings that they could have won with a lawyer.
In 2022 there are big changes in the unemployment statute:
Big Changes in Colorado Unemployment Law
You Must Prepare and Participate
The hearing officer’s decision is based only on evidence presented at the hearing. You must present and defend your position. You must know what facts are going to be important to the hearing officer based on the law, and without a lawyer you will only be guessing.
We also protect employers and employees against unemployment audits, repayment demands, or claims of fraud. This means we help respond to subpoenas and requests for information, handle appeals, and help prepare requests for waivers of overpayments. We are not criminal attorneys. If you have been charged criminally, a criminal lawyer is necessary.