Owens v. Mississippi Department of Employment Security

MAXWELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Mississippi’s employment-insurance program serves a specific purpose — “to assist those individuals who involuntarily lose employment through no fault of their own, and who are ready, willing and available to return to work.”1 Because Kathleen Owens admitted to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) that she was unavailable to return to work for the first four weeks she had received unemployment benefits, MDES determined she was ineligible to receive benefits during that time period.2 So the $620 in benefits she received for those four weeks…