Jennifer M. Barnes v. Director, Division of Workforce Services

2024 Ark. App. 327

• Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas
• Decided: May 22, 2024
• Status: Published

Opinion

Cite as 2024 Ark. App. 327 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION I No. E-23-187

JENNIFER M. BARNES Opinion Delivered May 22, 2024 APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE ARKANSAS BOARD OF REVIEW V. [NO. 2023-BR-00012]

DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES APPELLEE REMANDED TO SETTLE THE RECORD

RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge

In this unbriefed employment-security-division case, Jennifer M. Barnes appeals the

Arkansas Board of Review’s (the Board’s) decision dismissing her appeal as untimely. This is

a companion case to Barnes v. Director, E-23-186 (affirmed without written opinion), and

Barnes v. Director, 2024 Ark. App. 335, also handed down today. In conformity with our

decision in Barnes v. Director, 2024 Ark. App. 335, we remand to the Board to settle the

record.

On October 26, 2021, the Division of Workforce Services issued a notice of agency

determination denying Barnes’s request for benefits on finding that she voluntarily left her

last work without good cause connected with the work. Barnes appealed the decision, and on January18, 2022, the Appeal Tribunal dismissed the appeal as untimely. Barnes appealed

to the Board.

In March 2023, a hearing was held, and on April 3, 2023, the Board issued a decision

finding that Barnes untimely appealed to the Board. Barnes appealed to this court. However,

on July 19, 2023, we remanded to the Board to correct the record because the transcript of

the March hearing was not in the record.

On August 10, 2023, another hearing was held, and on August 11, the Board issued

a decision again dismissing Barnes’s appeal as untimely. The appeal is now before this court.

However, the August 11 decision references Barnes’s separate case concerning the appeal of

the nonfraud overpayment determination requiring her to repay $7,549 in benefits.1 The

decision does not reference the notice of agency determination denying Barnes’s request for

benefits on finding that she voluntarily left last work without good cause—which is the

relevant claim in this case. Given this error, we remand this case to the Board to settle the

record to reflect the claim at issue.

Remanded to settle the record.

GRUBER and WOOD, JJ., agree.

Jennifer M. Barmes, pro se appellant.

Cynthia L. Uhrynowycz, Associate General Counsel, for appellee.

1 The $7,549 overpayment decision is the subject of Barnes’s appeal in E-23-186, which we affirm in our per curiam decisions issued without written opinion.