NFIB

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

The Legal Foundation filed a brief urging the court to reverse a Commonwealth Court (Appeals Court) decision that effectively changes how employers can defend themselves from unemployment compensation claims. The lower court ruled that employers must hire an attorney in unemployment compensation claim proceedings, while claimants may use non-attorney representatives.

NFIB's Legal Foundation joined the Pennsylvania Chamber and the Society for Human Resource Management urging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overturn the lower court's decision and allow both employers and claimants to use non-attorney representatives in unemployment compensation claims cases. The brief argues that the lower court's ruling places an undue burden on business owners and is simply unfair.

Most states permit both workers and employers to be represented by non-attorneys at informal unemployment compensation hearings. Prohibition of non-attorney representatives will dramatically increase unemployment compensation costs for small businesses. According to a recently released NFIB Small-Business Poll, median legal expenses for small-business owners in 2004 were between $4,000 and $5,000.

Status: DECIDED. Amici Curiae brief filed Oct. 24, 2005. On April 17, 2007, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the Commonwealth Court decision.