Jobless Benefit Appeals – North Carolina

Benefit Appeal: People denied unemployment payments fight for them because of tough job market, By John Murawski, November 23, 2009, Raleigh News and Observer: “When Jason Smith was fired from his job as a graphic designer earlier this year, he did what some might consider unusual: He filed for unemployment benefits. And when the Employment Security Commission denied his claim, Smith did something almost unheard of a few years ago. He hired a lawyer to take on his former boss for his weekly $371 benefits check. ‘I felt wrongly fired,’ Smith said. ‘I fight for the things I think I deserve.’ With the state’s unemployment rate at 10.8 percent, the scarcity of jobs is stiffening the resolve of the unemployed to collect their benefits — even when they’ve been fired. At the same time, many employers are just as determined to block the benefits because the payouts can increase a company’s costs…”