Last year, Senator Bill Dotzler of Waterloo sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) expressing concerns about Iowa Workforce Development and its director, Teresa Wahlert.
The letter was based on testimony Senator Dotzler had received from Unemployment Administrative Law Judges indicating there was undue pressure on them, concern about the fairness of the appeals system, and problems with a political appointee directly supervising the appeal judges.
This month, DOL informed the new Iowa Workforce Development director, Beth Townsend, that her predecessor had created perceived pressure on Iowa’s Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) to be biased in favor of employers or face retaliation. The DOL also recommended that the new IWD director:
- Immediately fill the Chief ALJ position on a merit staffing basis.
- Ensure that the Unemployment Compensation appeals process is insulated from outside pressures that might compromise the process’s fairness and impartiality, or appearance of fairness and impartiality.
- Ensure that ALJs are free from actual or perceived intimidation.
- Review any negative personnel actions received by ALJs during the period they were supervised by Teresa Wahlert to determine if the action was appropriately taken, and take any necessary remedial action to reverse the action if not appropriately taken.
- Not take any personnel action against individual ALJs related to their possible participation in the review of this matter moving forward.
To learn more about U.S. Department of Labor findings and recommendations for Iowa Workforce Development, go to www.senate.iowa.gov/democrats/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/150305_combined-US-DOL-files-on-workforce.pdf.