Employers, did you get this?

A lot of Colorado employers probably got this email that looked like this today, so I thought I'd help unpack it a little bit and provide some guidance. First, this is ONLY for employers who have filed an appeal against an unemployment claim. If you haven’t, you don’t need to worry about this.

Here’s the situation:

If an employee filed an unemployment claim on you but you disputed the claim because the employee quit or was fired, you'll want to pay attention to this email. It states that because State of Colorado Unemployment staff were rushing to issue unemployment checks during the height of COVID, they didn't necessarily have time to investigate the claims properly, so they may have paid an employee who quit or was fired unemployment compensation in error.

If you, as an employer, filed an appeal because you didn't want the claim increasing your unemployment rate, the State of Colorado wants you to know that it won't, and the State would appreciate it if you retracted your appeal. Essentially, the State is broke, COVID unemployment will raise everyone's rate, and addressing the appeal will waste additional time and resources.

Because the State of Colorado received hundreds of thousands of unemployment claims and you don't choose to retract it, your appeal (which will be decided based on testimony and evidence) will be dealt with several months from now. On top of the long wait, even if you win, the State won't be taking the money back from the employee who received it erroneously. If you don't win and you do owe the unemployment, it will be charged to your account and your rate will go up.

Long story short, even if doing the right thing is fighting an incorrect claim, you're still going to lose in terms of time and/or money. I'm sorry to say it, but I suggest you use the link included in the email and Withdraw Your Appeal, even if it rubs against the grain. Unfortunately, it's another no-win situation for Colorado's hardworking employers.