Markham v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission

This is another unemployment compensation benefits case in which the employer wins on a technicality and the former employee is denied even the meager safety net provided by law to cushion the trauma of unemployment. While I am obligated to concur in affirming the Commission’s order finding Mr. Markham’s appeal untimely, I write to identify a recurring problem that merits attention by the Legislature and the Agency for Workforce Innovation. That problem is the “short fuse” on procedural defaults applicable to appeals to the Agency.

Mr. Markham, like most unemployment compensation claimants, is…