The Georgia Division of Labor is responding to lawsuit

THOMASVILLE, Georgia (WCTV) – A lawsuit filed against the Georgia Department of Labor was “lacking evidence,” said department commissioner Mark Butler.

Butler admitted that this is one of many lawsuits filed against the department in the past 15 months since the pandemic. He said he believed the Southern Poverty Law Center’s recent lawsuit was due to misinformation regarding eligibility.

“A lot of the things behind some of these politically motivated lawsuits have to do with the fact that many of the people who file them don’t understand unemployment. They believe in their minds that unemployment is available to anyone who applies in any situation, and that’s just not true, ”Butler said.

The lawsuit, filed in June, argues that the law guarantees “punctuality” and “due process” for unemployment claims, as well as demanding monetary damages. However, Butler said he believes most of the allegations are just “part of the game” and he believes this only complicates the department’s work.

The Commissioner believes that many of the people who do not receive the funds may be ineligible. He said that because of misinformation, people fail to understand that they do not qualify and therefore never receive unemployment benefits.

Butler cited that Georgia law states that to be considered unemployed through no fault of your own, you must be able to provide evidence of your professional history.

Before the pandemic, Butler said the Department of Labor’s system had worked well for decades. However, new programs were quickly put together to help during COVID.

“Many registered unemployed people have no previous work history at all and cannot prove any previous employment. You could also have been fired from your job for some reason, such as: For example, if you failed to show up for work or did not do the job you were hired to do. Or that you just quit your job for no good reason, ”Butler said.

He added that, in his opinion, many people, including the four plaintiffs who are now filing the lawsuit, just don’t understand unemployment and that they still need to qualify to actually receive benefits.

In addition, Butler said that all programs created during the pandemic for the state of Georgia will be closed on Saturday, Jan.

The SPLC was also involved in at least two other lawsuits against the department that year.

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