Keeping People Financially Stable

The Unemployment Compensation Unit (UC) offers critical support to workers facing financial instability by guiding them through complex public benefits systems. The team assists clients in understanding and navigating the unemployment compensation process, ensuring they receive the benefits to which they are entitled during periods of joblessness. This is a huge help to low-income families as unemployment compensation is an earned benefit and being unable to gain or maintain access to those benefits can mean struggling with economic instability and poverty. 



Every year, thousands of Pennsylvanians face challenging problems trying to access the unemployment compensation benefits that they are owed.

The Unemployment Unit is also dedicated to making systemic impact and fair outcomes for claimants through administrative appeals and prioritizing our appellate practice. In Pennsylvania, these claimants automatically have the right to appeal to the Commonwealth Court and proceed without a fee, yet most proceed without legal representation, making the unemployment docket—comprising over 20% of the court’s cases—predominantly pro se. 

Since 2014, the unit has litigated twenty cases in Pennsylvania appellate courts, achieving favorable decisions in ten, addressing and correcting problematic law in two cases despite an unfavorable client outcome, and settling five cases. 

Our UC attorneys are unique in Pennsylvania. They will appeal cases to Commonwealth Court when they did not represent the client at their administrative hearing. This practice ensures access to justice for claimants with very difficult cases.