On July 17, 2024, the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled on a case challenging whether it was legal to prevent recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) from also receiving Wisconsin unemployment compensation benefits. The court held that the state law that automatically prevented SSDI recipients from receiving unemployment compensation benefits violated federal law that protects disabled people. As a result, the SSDI eligibility ban has been found to discriminate against disabled workers and can no longer bar those workers from being eligible for unemployment benefits when they lose a job through no fault of their own.

The federal court’s ruling is part of a class action lawsuit. The next step is for the court to rule on whether the case can go forward as a class action, and if so, who properly belongs in the class. The case is scheduled for a trial in August 2025 where the court will determine the proper remedy in the case.

One of the vindicated workers, Brian Bemke, who has lost part of his throat from cancer, was “ecstatic” about the win.

Another plaintiff in the case, Scott Collett, said, “After going through numerous setbacks trying to get my unemployment to now experience a victory brings joy and most importantly hope.” For Mr. Collett, disabled people receiving SSDI benefits are already at a disadvantage. To have a right like unemployment benefits taken away is painful and morally degrading. “The decision brings total relief. To know that when it comes to a basic rights like unemployment the disabled won’t be discriminated against is validation of justice,” Mr. Collett explains.

John Feriozzi, while happy that the court has found the SSDI eligibility ban to be discriminatory against disabled workers, questions why this court case was even needed in the first place.

“Unemployment and SSDI are separate benefits and programs. Anyone who has a job and loses it should be able to apply for unemployment benefits, disabled or not. The SSDI program wants you to work, but then when you get laid off, you’re treated like a second class citizen and aren’t extended the same benefits as other working people.”

Judy Fintz, who has been disabled for decades, is extremely happy with the win. “Housing costs are getting higher. I have been working hard and need unemployment benefits when laid off every year to make ends meet. I just want to be treated the same as everyone else and not treated differently because of my disabilities.”

Sarah Jamieson had to pick up additional hours during the Covid-19 pandemic because the SSDI eligibility ban prevented her from getting unemployment benefits when her health care employer reduced the schedule of its general staff. “Those additional hours led to the loss of my SSDI benefits and my transition to early retirement and regular Social Security. All because the SSDI eligibility ban denied regular unemployment benefits to me but not my co-workers.”

Co-plaintiff Tracy Long is glad for the win. “If a person is on disability and legally working, they should collect unemployment benefits when they lose their jobs just like everyone else. I don’t expect anything myself, as I have been working since March 2022 at my current job,” Ms. Long says. “But others who do lose their jobs should be eligible right now in the same way that any non-disabled person is eligible for unemployment benefits. The whole basis of the SSDI eligibility ban makes no sense since it presumes that SSDI benefits are interchangeable with unemployment benefits when the two programs are completely different from each other both in what they do and why benefits are paid out to individuals like me. The court should recognize these basic facts.”

The state wants to limit unemployment eligibility only to those individuals who filed initial claims and then weekly certifications, ignoring the fact that the SSDI eligibility ban itself discouraged SSDI recipients from applying for unemployment benefits.

SSDI recipients who may have questions about this case should call 608-841-2150. All SSDI recipients should now file for unemployment benefits for any job loss they have (even job losses going back to September 2021) and ignore directions and guidance from DWD that declares them ineligible for unemployment benefits.

Since this court decision, the Department of Workforce Development and the Labor and Industry Review Commission continue to think that the SSDI eligibility ban is still place for new unemployment claims. Even some of the six named plaintiffs in this case who have since lost work have still been denied unemployment benefits because of the SSDI eligibility ban (appeals are ongoing).

The July 2024 decision held that the SSDI eligibility ban discriminates in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act against disabled workers who receive SSDI benefits. There is no legal justification for continuing to deny eligibility for unemployment benefits based on the SSDI eligibility ban, and Sec. Pechacek could well be in contempt of court for this continuing application of the SSDI eligibility ban to new unemployment claims from disabled workers.

All disabled workers should file unemployment claims to challenge what the Department and the Commission are doing. As stated in state unemployment law, “Unemployment in Wisconsin is recognized as an urgent public problem, gravely affecting the health, morals and welfare of the people of this state. The burdens resulting from irregular employment and reduced annual earnings fall directly on the unemployed worker and his or her family.” Wis. Stat. § 108.01(1). So, denying unemployment benefits when they are needed most runs directly counter to why unemployment benefits exist in the first place.

Understand that Department representatives will continue to insist that the SSDI eligibility ban is still in place and that disabled workers should stop any filing immediately. Ignore what they are saying and fight back. A court has ruled that the SSDI eligibility ban is illegal. While there may be disputes still about the classes that will be certified in this case and how far back in time these classes will reach, there is no dispute that as of July 2024 the SSDI eligibility ban is illegal. So, there is no reason why this discrimination should continue.