Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to revise the number of Wisconsinites who receive disability benefits and are also employed.

MADISON – A class action lawsuit seeks to overturn a state law prohibiting Wisconsinians with disabilities from accessing unemployment benefits after losing their jobs.

The complaint was filed Tuesday by a group of nine residents who have been denied unemployment benefits since 2015 because they are receiving Social security disability insurance payments too. Some residents were also forced to reimburse the benefits paid to them by the Workforce Development Department, who argued that the payments were made in error.

Lawyers Victor Forberger and Paul kinne will represent the group throughout the case.

More than 3,500 people with disabilities in Wisconsin are also employed, said Forberger. About 185.00 people in the state get Social security disability insurance.

“In the current state of affairs, workers who receive Social security disability insurance benefits were denied the right to unemployment benefits even when these workers lost their jobs through no fault of their own, ”Kinne said. “The interpretation and application by the State of Wisconsin The Unemployment Compensation Eligibility Act violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

Wisconsin The law regarding unemployment benefits for people receiving disability benefits dates back to 2013. The first version of the law made people receiving disability benefits ineligible for state unemployment only during the weeks in which they were received their monthly disability check. But an update to the law in 2015 made people totally ineligible for unemployment if they also received disability benefits, Forberger said.

Wisconsin and North Carolina are the only two states to ban unemployment for those who receive disability checks.

At the time, the ministry estimated that the change would only impact around 50 people, but over the years it has become clear that it has in fact impacted thousands of people.

“Essentially, we’re taking a very large chunk of the state’s workforce and saying they’re not entitled to unemployment benefits,” Forberger said.

A law aimed at preventing “double deductions”

When the law was passed, it was to prevent people from “doubling” and getting both unemployment and disability benefits without working. But residents receiving both benefits weren’t really doing it, Forberger said, because those beneficiaries actually depend on funds from both disability and employment.

“It’s a complete myth,” he said. “They have to work to make ends meet. But now they can’t get unemployment benefits when they lose their jobs, that’s how unemployment is supposed to work.”

Forberger said those he spoke with who received disability checks were from anywhere $ 600 To $ 1,600 per month, which is not enough money for most.

“Even if you are in the high end, you have to pay rent, you have to eat, you have to pay bills, you have to pay your cell phone, and $ 1,600 won’t be enough, “he said.” Unless you live extremely frugal. “

“We have rights”

Judy finz of The cross is one of the persons named in the class action. Fintz worked at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse cafeteria for 13 years part-time and, since 2015, has not been able to receive unemployment benefits during the summer months when school is not in progress and she is not working.

She receives $ 995 one month of disability benefits, which are used to pay bills. She also receives 16 $ in SNAP gets a month’s food during school holidays when she’s not working, but that doesn’t go far.

“It’s very difficult in the summer because I have a hard time with the money,” Fintz said.

Fintz said other cafeteria workers who do not perceive a disability have no problem accessing their unemployment benefits.

“They shouldn’t discriminate against us (against us. We have rights, we are human. They should be able to give us unemployment regardless of the disability,” she said. judge people. “

Fintz said she was even more worried for the coming months, now that federal unemployment benefits have also ended. Her boss recently informed her that her hours were going to be further reduced due to COVID-19.

“I could have about 10 hours a week, and it’s still not a lot to pay the bills and make ends meet,” she said. “It’s going to be difficult, you know.”

“The money is there”

Forberger hopes the lawsuit will help bring relief to those who have been denied unemployment benefits since 2015. The lawsuit calls for back pay for all claims that have been denied under the law since it came into effect.

“What we want to do is reverse the discrimination that prevented access to regular unemployment,” said Forberger. “And for the future, overturn this discriminatory eligibility ban, so that when you are fired from your job, you can get unemployment benefits.”

Forberger and Kinne have been working on the lawsuit for six months, they said, and are first seeking a preliminary injunction from federal courts to stop Wisconsin practice of denying Wisconsin disabled people their benefits.

Forberger said if the pursuit was successful, the Workforce Development Department would be required to reimburse claims, money from taxes collected by the state for unemployment.

“The money is already there, it’s already in the trust fund,” he said.

Forberger did not have an estimate of how much might be owed, but said the amount would likely be significant.

The ministry did not return a request for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

The lawsuit will not affect payments made by the federal government during the coronavirus pandemic, as those payments have already been made. The lawsuit will only deal with regular benefits denied within the past six years.

The problem caused by the lack of benefits for residents with disabilities came to the fore for Forberger and Kinne at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. As thousands of people were made redundant and businesses across the state closed, those receiving disability benefits in Wisconsin have even been denied federal benefits like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which was created to provide benefits to those who were not entitled to regular benefits.

Eventually, the state allowed residents with disabilities to apply for federal benefits, after Caleb Frostman, the former secretary of Workforce Development Department, argued that the federal government had misunderstood state laws.

He said that in Wisconsin, those receiving disability benefits cannot claim regular unemployment and therefore should not be excluded from special pandemic benefits intended to support the self-employed and others outside the scope of unemployment benefits regular.

At that time, the Department of Labor also decided that the amount of federal aid would not be deducted from disability benefits either.

Forberger hopes to see swift action on the case, so people with disabilities don’t have to go without the income that helps them pay for food, rent or bills.

“Before you debate or say anything on this issue, you need to explain how this ban on eligibility can exist. More disabled workers in the state are working every year,” he said. “There is no rational explanation for this ban, other than to discriminate against people with disabilities.”

Social security disability insurance recipients who have questions about the case can call 608-841-2150 for more information.

Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura.