The Department of Economic Security only has eight administrative law judges to conduct hundreds of unemployment insurance appeal hearings each month.
The ABC15 15 Investigators first reported that the state agency has a backlog for processing approximately 10,000 unemployment appeal hearings that dates back to November 2024.
Unemployment insurance appeals are for people who are denied benefits but disagree with the department’s decision.
According to DES’s website, appeal hearings are scheduled "as soon as possible."
However, the department said that as unemployment insurance claims have increased, so have appeals.
A spokesperson for DES confirms that the department has eight administrative law judges who conduct about 170 Unemployment Insurance (UI) appeal hearings each week.
That is down dramatically because of staff cuts due to federal funding cuts.
The department previously had 24 administrative law judges who could conduct approximately 410 UI appeal hearings each week.
“We're seeing people who are trying to get regular unemployment waiting over a year to even get a hearing. And then once they have a hearing, and we win, they're still not getting paid,” said Nina Targovnik, an attorney with Community Legal Services.
Targovnik represents people who need free legal help at unemployment appeal hearings. She has concerns about how some of her clients, who won, are still waiting for their benefits.
The department shares information about Community Legal Services and free legal help on its website, but Targovnik said as an attorney she can’t reach anyone with the department either.
“We have no special access to DES even though DES provides our contact information for people to become our clients there's no reciprocity,” she said.
A spokesperson did not answer our questions directly about how attorneys like Targovnik can not reach DES directly.
When it comes to the backlog for UI appeal hearings, DES said they’re working to address it, saying, “We’ve taken steps to increase efficiencies over recent years, and system modernization will streamline our UI appeals processes further.”
However, they say staffing cuts are going to continue to cause delays, saying, “We are committed to processing appeals as quickly as possible for claimants in need of services, but without increased funding to support additional staff, clients are going to continue to experience longer wait times for their appeal hearings.”
Read the full statement from DES below:
DES currently has eight Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) conducting approximately 170 Unemployment Insurance (UI) appeal hearings each week. In June 2025, prior to the staff reduction, DES had 24 ALJs conducting approximately 410 UI appeal hearings each week. The Appellate Services Administration (ASA) still receives 160 new requests for UI appeals each week, making it difficult to lower the number of total appeals in the queue with the reduced number of ALJs.
As mentioned previously, we’ve taken steps to increase efficiencies over recent years, and system modernization will streamline our UI appeals processes further. We are committed to processing appeals as quickly as possible for claimants in need of services, but without increased funding to support additional staff, clients are going to continue to experience longer wait times for their appeal hearings.
If an individual is initially disqualified for benefits, properly appeals the disqualification, and is subsequently determined eligible, the individual will receive benefits for any week for which they filed a weekly certification and meet the eligibility criteria regardless of when the appeal is heard. Benefits usually issue within a few days after receiving the appeal decision but can be impacted by the number of decisions received. We are up-to-date in processing these at this time. Individuals awaiting a UI appeals decision, or their authorized representative, can contact the Appellate Services Administration [des.az.gov]for information about their request for appeal.
