On April 22, the Sugar Law Center, along with the United Auto Workers and individuals from around the state, filed suit in federal court against officials with the State of Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency. The lawsuit claims that the state’s automated system of determining fraud and imposing severe penalties is illegal and violates persons’ rights under the Constitution and under the Social Security Act.
“Sugar Law Center strongly opposes the State’s robo-adjudication of unemployed insurance claims accusing persons of fraud and imposing severe penalties, often without any basis in fact,” said John Philo, executive and legal director of the Sugar Law Center. “The system treats all persons applying for benefits as suspect and as potential criminals and appears designed to deter working people from applying for benefits that they have earned through years of work after losing their jobs, commonly through no fault of their own."
“The Sugar Law Center has seen drastic increase in both the amount of these intakes and the egregiousness of the charges since the implementation of the state’s robo-adjudication,” said Tony Paris, lead attorney with the Sugar Law Center. “This current system is not only deterring working people who are between jobs from filing and collecting the benefits they are entitled to, it is jeopardizing an essential safety net, resulting in delays that out-of-work folks cannot afford.”
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affair uses an automated computer program to search for discrepancies in the records of individuals claiming unemployment benefits. The automated system then makes a determination of whether fraud has occurred and assesses monetary penalties, before any hearing and any meaningful opportunity to respond. The lawsuit claims that the State’s system violates the constitutional and statutory rights of the plaintiffs and seeks to stop the system of robo-adjudication.
The Sugar Law Center and other named plaintiffs in the case are being represented by the law firm of Nacht, Roumel, Salvatore, Blanchard & Walker, P.C. (Nacht Law) of Ann Arbor.
Case Name: Zynda, et. al. v. Zimmer et. al.
Case No. 2:15-cv-11449-RHC-RSW
Court: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
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