Gelser hosts talk on unemployment

Gazette-Times (original source )

State Rep. Sara Gelser will moderate a forum on unemployment benefits at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9, in the main meeting room of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave.

Gelser said she has fielded a number of questions from constituents who were deemed ineligible for benefits by the Oregon Employment Department after leaving their jobs at Hewlett-Packard Co. Some were initially deemed eligible only to have the decision reversed. In some cases, they have been ordered to repay benefits already received.

The panelists will be Sara Owens, chief of the state Employment Appeals Board; Susan Johnson of the Oregon Employment Department; and Tom Ewing of the state Office of Administrative Hearings.

The panelists will not be able to discuss individual cases, but they will provide information about how eligibility for unemployment benefits is determined. Also up for discussion will be retraining benefits and the appeals process.