Event Details

Unemployment Insurance Hearings, What You Need to Know

Presented by James Timberland, Administrative Law Judge,

Unemployment Insurance Appeals Bureau, Iowa Workforce Development

Employers lose more unemployment insurance cases than they should.  They can prevail more often if they take certain, proactive steps and learn to avoid common errors.  All employers can use readily available resources to increase their understanding of the law and the applicable procedures.  We will touch on ways to investigate and document employment issues at the time they occur so that the documentation works to the employer's advantage at the appeal hearing.  We will talk about preparing for the appeal hearing.  We will talk about how to do a better job of presenting evidence at the appeal hearing.  While you will not become an expert in unemployment insurance law by spending an hour with an administrative law judge, you will undoubtedly gain information and insight that will work to your advantage in future unemployment insurance matters.

Participants will learn how to better document employment events as they happen so that the documentation will better serve the employer in the context of unemployment insurance proceedings. 

Participants will learn how to better navigate the unemployment insurance adjudication procedure. 

Participants will learn how to better prepare for and present evidence at unemployment insurance hearings.

James Timberland earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and law degrees at the University of Iowa.  While studying law he worked on the Journal of Corporation Law, conducted research for a property law professor, clerked for a City Attorney and county seat law firm, and chaired the student-run Client Counseling Program.  He was fortunate to have studied Administrative Law under Professor Arthur Bonfield, chief architect of the Iowa Administrative Procedures Act. 

Judge Timberland was admitted to practice law in Iowa in 1997.  After spending a short time in private practice in Ames, he then served as Assistant Boone County Attorney and as an Assistant State Public Defender assigned to Story County.  Judge Timberland became an Administrative Law Judge in the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Bureau at Iowa Workforce Development in 2004 and has heard and decided 8,000 to 9,000 unemployment insurance appeals.

Judge Timberland is a native Iowan and grew up in Marshalltown.  He currently lives in Ames with his wife and son – both of whom insist they are Cyclones.  He serves as a judicial member on the Board of Directors for Legal Aid Society of Story County.  Judge Timberland is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association and the Story County Bar Association.