November 2, 2020

Community Legal Aid Sues DUA for Depriving Mass. Workers of Unemployment Benefits Without Due Process

DATELINE: Worcester, MA

On behalf of five Massachusetts workers, Community Legal Aid (CLA”) has sued the Department of Unemployment Assistance (“DUA”), the state agency that administers the unemployment insurance program. Over two million workers in Massachusetts have filed claims for benefits with DUA since the pandemic began. Plaintiffs are five such workers: a nurse, nursing assistant, machinist, payroll professional, and plant manager for a local food manufacturer. Initially, DUA approved these workers’ claims and began paying weekly benefits. But weeks later, DUA suddenly stopped paying benefits without first providing plaintiffs any notice or opportunity for a hearing. DUA even demanded that plaintiffs repay benefits they had already received. The lawsuit alleges that DUA’s conduct violates state and federal laws, including the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.

“At its core, due process requires our government to inform a person why her freedom or property might be taken away, and to give the person a meaningful chance to oppose the government’s position. Unemployment benefits are ‘property’ under the law. That’s why DUA’s own regulations require notice and hearings,” explained CLA Litigation Director Leigh Woodruff. “These Massachusetts workers did not choose to lose their paychecks in a global pandemic. But DUA’s actions are forcing them to accumulate credit card debt and even cash out their 401Ks just to buy food and pay bills, and stress is making workers sick.”

Last week, CLA served a motion for a preliminary injunction that would order DUA, immediately, to stop depriving workers of benefits without due process. The motion contends the injunction is needed to protect workers from ruinous debt, stress-induced health problems, and being evicted from their homes. Massachusetts lifted its eviction moratorium last month. “These are exactly the kinds of harm that unemployment benefits are supposed to prevent,” noted Woodruff. Congress created the unemployment program during the Great Depression to help working families survive until new jobs become available, and to help stabilize the economy by providing income that families can spend instead of relying on charity.

Earlier this year, the state GDP contracted by 43.8% and unemployment reached 17.7% in Massachusetts. Woodruff stated: “These numbers have not been seen since the 1930s, and DUA has a duty to provide the benefits that Congress created to help working families in this situation. It is no excuse for DUA to say: ‘We are too busy to get this right.’”

CLA anticipates a decision on the motion by December.

About Community Legal Aid:

Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

Contact: Leigh Woodruff, Litigation Director

Community Legal Aid

Phone: (508) 425-2885

Email: lwoodruff@cla-ma.org