A judge ordered the Virginia Employment Commission to make changes. But some say the agency’s problems haven’t been fully fixed.

Jonathon Brashears is no stranger to red tape. As a military veteran, the Virginia Beach resident said he’s seen his fair share of bureaucratic tangles.

But Brashears, who tried to get unemployment benefits last year after being laid off from a health insurance company, said he was dumbfounded by the state’s muddled application process.

“This has been unbelievably disjointed,” he said. “No one seems to have any answers. You just feel really helpless.”

Brashears isn’t the only one with complaints.

The Virginia Employment Commission was at the center of a class-action lawsuit last year alleging “gross failures” in providing residents with unemployment benefits throughout the pandemic. A judge issued an order directing the agency to make various changes and, after seeing signs of progress, closed the case earlier this year. But some say the problems aren’t resolved.

“I hope additional progress is made as soon as possible because a lot of people are still out there hurting,” said Pat Levy-Lavelle, senior intake attorney for the Legal Aid Justice Center.

The justice center, a nonprofit that provides legal services to lower-income individuals, was among several groups that filed the lawsuit on behalf of numerous plaintiffs against then-VEC Commissioner Ellen Marie Hess in April 2021.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin removed Hess, an appointee from the previous administration, shortly after taking office in January. Attempts to reach Hess were unsuccessful.

Part of the problem, Levy-Lavelle said, stems from a lack of funding.

Virginia relies heavily on federal funds to run the employment commission, whereas most other states contribute significant amounts of state money as well, the attorney explained.

“I think we were already behind and then the pandemic hit,” he said.

The lawsuit alleges that tens of thousands of Virginians were “failed completely” by the state’s unemployment system.

“Either their claims for benefits have languished for months without any decisions made on their claims, or if they were lucky enough to begin receiving benefits, their benefits have been suddenly cut off without notice or explanation,” the suit states.

The judge issued an order directing the commission to improve communication, accelerate claim processing and resume payments to those whose benefits were abruptly cut off.

The case was dismissed in January after the court commended the commission for its progress and noted that 95% of the backlog for unpaid unemployment claims that existed as of May 10, 2021, had been resolved.

Levy-Lavelle said the justice center was disappointed with the decision to dismiss the case; the agency continues to hear from residents who are struggling to get payments and find it challenging to communicate with the agency.

“We had asked the judge to leave the case open,” he said. “There was a lot more progress to be made and we think the judge’s oversight was helping.”

Brashears, 39, said his application last summer initially stalled because he didn’t receive a personal identification number, which is needed to proceed, for several months. He then applied for back payments and was denied without explanation.

Brashears said he appealed the decision in December — but he hasn’t heard anything back from the commission. Although he found new employment as a software team leader in January, he said the time in between jobs was stressful.

“It was definitely nerve-wracking,” Brashears said. “I just watched my savings disappear.”

Brashears said he called the commission “countless” times but struggled to get information. The commission is not responsive, he said, and when he reached agency representatives, they couldn’t provide useful updates.

Seva Raskin is waiting to hear back from the appeal she submitted in July. The Williamsburg resident said her application was rejected without explanation.

Raskin, a communications professional who worked remotely for a Texas-based company, was laid off in June. She found a new job in about a month, and was able to get by on her savings.

But she worries for those who are unemployed for longer periods, or for families who live paycheck to paycheck.

Raskin started to research the commission and was surprised to learn there already had been a lawsuit that was resolved.

“The same thing is happening now in August that was happening when the lawsuit was filed,” she said. “It’s the same problems.”

Carrie Roth, the VEC commissioner who took the helm this year, said the agency has “worked diligently” since January to address backlogged cases and improve customer service.

“We just hired a chief customer advocate and we have a ‘plain language’ project underway that is really important,” she said. “It’s a complicated process and we are doing all we can to simplify (it).”

Roth added that the agency was overwhelmed during the early days of the pandemic. At one point, it received about 400,000 applications during a one-week period in April 2020.

“Typically you wouldn’t see that over five years,” she said.

Other changes are on the way. The commission is developing a resiliency plan to prepare for another potential crisis, as required by a bill signed into law this year.

Although Levy-Lavelle said it’s too soon to say whether the justice center would consider another lawsuit, the attorney said nothing is off the table.

“We are always open to possibilities,” he said. “We are pleased that the VEC is making some progress, but we are aware there are a lot of people out there still hurting.”

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com