Flores de Vega v. Oregon Employment Department
Class Action Lawsuit

This lawsuit was filed on behalf of Oregon claimants who have been waiting too long for a final decision (payment or denial) on their applications for unemployment benefits since the beginning of the COVID-19 emergency. The lawsuit is a class action, which means the lawsuit is designed to help not just the named petitioners but also the many thousands of Oregonians who are still waiting for a final decision on their claims for unemployment benefits.  

Anyone who meets the definition of a “class member” is covered by the settlement in this lawsuit.

You are a member of the class in this lawsuit if:

1. You applied for or attempted to apply for Oregon unemployment benefits after March 1, 2020;
2. You have been waiting more than 4 weeks for either payment or a formal denial of payment for any week of benefits other than the waiting week; and
3. You are still waiting now.

The petitioners are 14 Oregonians who lost their jobs during or just before the COVID-19 emergency. Some applied for regular unemployment insurance benefits, which existed before the emergency. Others applied for new COVID-19 unemployment benefits, such as PUA and PEUC. Most waited many months without a decision on their claims.

The petitioners filed this lawsuit under the Oregon Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), the law that governs state agencies like the Oregon Employment Department. One provision of the APA gives Oregon courts the power to order an agency to act when it has “unreasonably delayed” making a decision or taking action. Petitioners allege that waiting many months for benefits or an unemployment benefits decision is an “unreasonable delay” under the APA.

Under the settlement, OED agrees to

1. By March 1, meet federal timeliness standards for paying benefits when they are due and, by April 1, meet federal timeliness standards for adjudicating (deciding) disputes about eligibility.
2. Process initial applications for UI and PUA more quickly.
3. By March 1, completely work through the “adjudication backlog.” This means that all claims waiting for adjudication in mid-January will resolved (paid or denied) by March 1.
4. Address long wait times for people whose benefits have started and stopped, but who don’t need adjudication.
5. Make regular, public reports on their progress for items 1-4 above.
6. Make online and paper/PDF applications for benefits available in languages other than English.
7. Allow eligible Limited English Proficient (“LEP”) individuals who couldn’t apply for unemployment benefits because of language barriers ask for benefits back to the date they lost work to the extent the law allows.
8. Improve phone access for LEP individuals and create a plan to address language barriers for people applying for benefits.

Although class members who are eligible for benefits may get paid more quickly, no class member will receive any additional money as part of the settlement. Oregon Law Center is not receiving any attorney’s fees as part of the settlement.

OED is not admitting liability as part of this settlement, but has agreed to take the steps above, which it believes are in the interest of all Oregonians.

If OED violates the agreement, Oregon Law Center attorneys can ask the settlement judge to take action to ensure that OED lives up to its promises. Under certain circumstances—for example, if there is a large increase in new claims, a natural disaster, or another event that substantially interferes with OED’s ability to make prompt decisions—OED’s obligations are “paused” for 90 days. 

The settlement agreement will end after OED has met its obligation for 6 months in a row, has met its obligations for 9 months total, or after 18 months have passed. However, if the settlement isn’t completed in 18 months and OED has had too many “pauses”, the settlement agreement could be extended.

You are already a member of the class covered by the lawsuit if you have been waiting at least 4 weeks for payment or a decision on at least one week of unemployment benefits. This means that if you have been waiting 4 weeks or longer, you are automatically included in the class, and so you are already covered by the lawsuit.  

The case has been in a monitoring and enforcement phase since March 2021. The settlement agreement was initially scheduled to end in September 2022. However, because OED did not meet its settlement obligations consistently enough between March 2021 and July 2022, the settlement has been extended through March 2023.

Each month, OED reports to Oregon Law Center about whether it has satisfied the requirements of the settlement. For example, OED gives Oregon Law Center written reports about whether, in the previous month, it met federal timeliness standards for issuing first payments on new claims and resolving disputes about eligibility. OED reports to Oregon Law Center about changes to its system to increase access for applicants with Limited English Proficiency. For example, OED has committed to making its online application for Regular Unemployment benefits available in Spanish as well as English. The reports OED provides to Oregon Law Center are available to the public on OED’s website at https://www.oregon.gov/employ/agency/pages/ui-reports.aspx.

If OED violates the agreement, Oregon Law Center attorneys can go back to court to ask the settlement judge to take action to ensure that OED lives up to its promises.

In March 2021, before the court approved the settlement, several class members wrote to Oregon Law Center to object to the settlement. These class members did not think the settlement was fair because OED does not have to pay any money damages or penalties under the agreement.

Oregon Law Center understands these class members’ frustration and agrees that the long waits for unemployment benefits caused serious harm to many thousands of Oregonians. Before filing and throughout the litigation, Oregon Law Center attorneys thoroughly researched available claims, and reluctantly concluded that petitioners and the class were unlikely to succeed in a suit for money damages or penalties. Based on advice from Oregon Law Center, the petitioners concluded that the type of policy changes OED agreed to make in the settlement agreement were better than no changes, even though these changes do not compensate class members for all the harm they suffered. You can read more about why Oregon Law Center believes this imperfect solution is nevertheless a fair settlement of the class members’ claims in the “Settlement” documents at the bottom of this webpage.

No. Unfortunately, there is no potential for money damages in this case. However, the goal of the case is for all eligible claimants to get their benefits faster.

They are posted here on this website.  See summaries and links to the actual documents filed in this case below.