Williams v. Mississippi Department of Employment Security

FAIR, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. After investigation, the claims examiner denied James Williams unemployment benefits, finding he had been terminated for misconduct after refusing a drug test. Williams filed a timely appeal but failed to appear at a telephonic hearing with the administrative law judge — that is, Williams failed to answer the phone at the time scheduled for the hearing. The ALJ, following the Mississippi Department of Employment Security’s Benefit Appeal Regulations, found that Williams had abandoned his appeal and defaulted. The MDES Board of Review and the DeSoto County Circuit…