On June 5th, the US Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that reversed the Wisconsin Supreme Court to find that the state court had violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment by explicitly imposing “a denominational preference by differentiating between religions based on theological lines.” By distinguishing between religious bodies that engage in proselytizing…

At the 20 March 2025 meeting of the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council, the Department introduced another round of extensive, substantive proposed changes to unemployment law.

Note: Despite many of these proposals being repeats from prior proposals, the Department did not include any financial estimates with these current proposals. At the April 17th Council meeting, however,…

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…

The US Supreme Court granted the petition for review in Catholic Charities, and oral argument is scheduled for March 31st at 10am eastern time. You can listen to the oral argument at this link.

The issue being addressed by the justices in this case is:

Does a state violate the First Amendment’s Religion…

Given the mass layoffs of late happening with federal employees, some information for how federal employees can claim unemployment benefits is probably needed.

In general, the administration and eligibility calculations/determinations of unemployment benefits is handled at the state level. The benefits themselves, however, come from the federal government. Because the administration varies from state…

For more than a decade, an increasing number of workers are finding that they have “agreed” to have all of their workplace disputes handled through arbitration proceedings.

Note: This “agreement” is often little more than a clause in small print in pages of paperwork that you sign with no discussion or even chance to review.…

The diocese has petitioned for review before the US Supreme Court the Catholic Charities decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Note: All the filed materials with the US Supreme Court are available at the court’s public docket for this case.

In its decision, Catholic Charities v. LIRC, 2024 WI 13, the Wisconsin…