WRAL (3/13/14): A lawyer who practices unemployment law sued the state under the open records law earlier this month after the Division of Employment Security announced plans to reduce the frequency of releases about people who are denied benefits. A superior court judge issued a temporary injunction Thursday preventing the division from making that change until the case is heard.
Monica Wilson, an unemployment lawyer, sued the Division of Employment Security in early March after the state agency announced plans to halt its 10-year-old practice of makin information about people who were denied unemployment benefits available on a daily basis. The division said that it would instead release information in batches three times a month.
Since the lawsuit was brought, the division is now claiming that the practice was a violation of federal law governing unemployment benefits. The lawsuit brought the situation to the attention of the U.S. Department of Labor, which sent the Division of Employment Security a letter demanding that the division stop the practice.
But on Thursday, Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway issued a preliminary injunction against the division to prevent the agency from making any changes until the case goes to trial.
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