Delaware Unemployment Appeal Deadline | Unemployment Claim Map

Levels of appeal and deadlines

Appeal to an Appeals Referee

Division of Unemployment Insurance, Lower Authority Appeals Unit (Appeals Referee)

Deadline

10 calendar days from the mailing date of the Claims Deputy's determination

How to file

Appeal in writing by email to dol_dui_appeals_request@delaware.gov, through the Claimant Portal, by mail, or in person at your local UI office. Your signature must be on the appeal.

Where to send it

Division of Unemployment Insurance, Lower Authority Appeals Unit, P.O. Box 9950, Wilmington, DE 19809

File online

Fax: 302-761-6635

It must include

Your full name and address
Your contact information
The docket number or case number on the determination
The reason for your appeal
Your signature

If it is late

The Division's notices and web pages say to appeal within 10 calendar days of the mailing date. Delaware law sets 15 calendar days after the determination is mailed or delivered. If no appeal is filed in time, the determination becomes final. Read the deadline on your notice.

While you appeal

Keep certifying (filing your weekly or biweekly claims).

Law: 19 Del. C. sec. 3318(b)

Official source: Source page

Appeal to the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board (UIAB)

Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board

Deadline: 10 calendar days from the mailing date on the Appeals Referee's decision
How to file: File the same ways as a first appeal. Say specifically why you disagree with the Referee's decision. The Board usually decides from the hearing record and does not hold a new hearing in every case.
It must include: Your full name and address
The docket number on the Referee's decision
The specific reasons you disagree with the decision
Your signature
If it is late: The Division's handbook says 10 days from the mailing date of the Referee's decision. Delaware law sets 15 days after the decision is mailed or delivered. Read the deadline on the Referee's decision.
While you appeal: Keep certifying (filing your weekly or biweekly claims).

Law: 19 Del. C. secs. 3318(c), 3320

Official source: Source page

Appeal to the Superior Court

Deadline: 10 calendar days from the date the Appeal Board's decision becomes final (15 days after it is mailed or delivered)
What to know: If you disagree with the Appeal Board's decision, you can ask the Superior Court in the county where you live to review it. The Board's decision becomes final 15 days after it is mailed, and you then have 10 days to file. The Board's decision explains how to file. No bond is required.

Law: 19 Del. C. secs. 3322(a), 3323

Every state must give a fair hearing before an impartial tribunal to anyone whose claim is denied.

Law: 42 U.S.C. 503(a)(3) (Social Security Act sec. 303(a)(3))

Appeal deadline calculator

Pick the appeal and enter the date it runs from. We add the days from the state's rule to that date.

Appeal request letter

Fill in the boxes and get a letter you can print or send. You write the reasons in your own words. The letter is in English because the agency works in English.

Date of the letter (required)

Your full name (required)

Your mailing address (required)

Your phone (optional)

Your email (optional)

Which appeal is this letter for?

Date on your notice (required)

How will you send it?

Address printed on your notice (required)

Copy the address where your notice says to send it.

The decision you are appealing (in your own words) (required)

Why you disagree (in your own words)

Write it yourself, in English. We do not suggest what to say.

Anything else your notice asks you to include (optional)

Sign the letter and keep a copy. Keep certifying while you appeal.

Other formats

Preview (the English text you send)

Hearing preparation checklist

Logistics and rights from your state's hearing information, plus your own list of witnesses and documents.

The hearing

Format: Hearings are held before an Appeals Referee. Your Notice of Hearing gives the time, date, place and issues. You may ask to take part by telephone; the notice explains how.
Documents and witnesses: Bring three copies of each document you want in the record (for you, the employer and the Referee). Signed statements generally cannot be used unless the person who signed comes to testify; ask witnesses with first-hand knowledge to attend.
Subpoena: Contact the Lower Authority Appeals Unit at least ten days before your hearing to ask for subpoenas.
Interpreter: Contact the Lower Authority Appeals Unit at least ten days before your hearing if you need an interpreter or have other special needs.
Representation: You may hire an attorney to represent you. Free legal aid may be available (see Free help).

Law: 19 Del. C. secs. 3318(c), 3321

Overpayments and waivers

If it is finally decided that you got benefits you were not entitled to, you must repay them, even if the overpayment was the Division's mistake. For overpayments without fraud, the Division may take up to 50% of later weekly benefits and may not charge interest. If the Division finds fraud, you must repay with interest plus a 15% penalty, you are disqualified for 1 year, and you cannot get benefits again until the fraud overpayment, penalty and interest are paid in full.

Appeal within: 15 days from the mailing date of the notice of overpayment and order for recoupment
Fraud penalty: 15% added when the overpayment is fraud
Waiver: The state can waive some overpayments.
The standard: The Division may waive repayment of an overpayment that was not caused by fraud if repayment would be against equity and good conscience, or if the overpayment was the result of Department error. Repayment can be found against equity and good conscience if, when you apply, you are getting benefits from a low-income public assistance program the Department designates.
How to ask: The Division notifies you in writing that you can apply for a waiver. You have 30 days from the date of that notice to send a completed waiver application. If the waiver is denied, you can appeal to an Appeals Referee within 15 days.
How the state collects: The Division can take overpayments from future benefits, sue in court, and take state and federal tax refunds (the federal refund only for an overpayment caused by fraud or unreported earnings, after a notice giving you at least 60 days to respond). It may write off an uncollectible non-fraud debt after 3 years and cannot start collecting a non-fraud overpayment more than 5 years after the benefit year ends unless it has sued.

Law: 19 Del. C. sec. 3325; 19 Del. C. sec. 3325(h)

What federal law adds on overpayments

Whether an overpayment can be waived, and how to ask, depends on your state's law. See your state's page.
Your federal tax refund can be taken to pay a past-due state unemployment overpayment caused by fraud or by not reporting your earnings, once it is final under state law. Before this happens, the state must notify you and give you at least 60 days to show that the debt is not owed or not legally enforceable.
Law: 26 U.S.C. 6402(f)
For fraud overpayments, the state must add a penalty of at least 15 percent.
Law: 42 U.S.C. 503(a)(11)

Free help

Call 302-761-8446. Legal aid and other free help in Delaware → Official sources →

Appeal an unemployment denial in Delaware