Richmond woman receives unemployment benefits after contacting 8News

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond woman says she waited more than three years to receive her unemployment benefits before reaching a resolution.

Lisa Dance fell victim to what so many people endured during the pandemic — being laid off and turning to the Virginia Employment Commission for assistance. Dance said her years-long battle started in May of 2021. Soon after being laid off, she tried to file a claim with the agency but said she encountered issues when trying to submit the claim.

“They first instruct you to go online, and then, once I went online, they said I still need to call for a pin,” said Dance. “And I tried to call off and on for a month, couldn’t get through.”

After about a month of trying to access a pin and submit her claim, Dance says she finally got the answers she was looking for in June and started receiving benefits soon after. However, she soon realized she was not paid for the month of May when she originally tried to file the claim after being laid off.

In July of 2021, Dance filed an appeal with the Virginia Employment Commission to receive the $2,700 she was owed.

“I was lucky in the sense that it didn’t stop me from being able to eat or have a place to live, but there were things that I could have used that money for,” said Dance.

Dance’s appeal hearing was in October of 2022, during which she spoke about her 26 attempts to contact the agency back in May of 2021.

“I call it unpaid customer labor. I was like working so hard trying to get them to do their job,” said Dance.

In December of 2022, Dance received the news she was waiting for — she had won her appeal. However, she says she wasn’t told how and when she could expect to receive her money.

“I got the letter said that that I won and that’s it. Crickets,” said Dance.

For the past year and a half since winning her appeal, Dance says she has tried to contact the agency to get her money but ran into long hold times and issues with their online system.

Recently, Dance reached out to 8News, who contacted the agency on her behalf to help resolve the issue.

“On this past Saturday, I actually got my check. So that’s three years since the original issue, 18 months since I won my appeal,” said Dance. “And because [8News] made contact, I finally got a the money that I was the benefits I was entitled to.”

A spokesperson from the Virginia Employment Commission tells 8News the agency is not allowed to discuss individual claims but said that, generally, when a person’s first payable week was more than three years ago, a paper check must be issued and can take longer than direct deposit.

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