South Dakota Unemployment Appeal | Unemployment Claim Map

Levels of appeal and deadlines

Appeal to an administrative law judge (hearing)

Reemployment Assistance Appeals office, South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation

Deadline

15 calendar days from the date DLR mailed your determination

Counts as filed

on the postmark date

Weekends and holidays

If the last day to appeal is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, your appeal is on time if filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.

How to file

Appeal in writing by mail or fax, or deliver it in person to any South Dakota Job Service office. You can use the Appeal Request form or a letter. DLR does not accept appeals by phone or email. A mailed appeal counts as filed on the date you mail it; a faxed appeal counts on the date DLR receives it.

Where to send it

Appeals Section, Reemployment Assistance Division, SD Department of Labor and Regulation, PO Box 4730, Aberdeen, SD 57402-4730

Fax: 605-626-2322

Official form

Appeal Request Form (DLR RA Form 068)

It must include

Your name
Your Social Security number (or claimant ID number)
Your full mailing address
The issue you are appealing (found under Appeal Rights on your determination)
The reason for the appeal
Your signature in ink and the date

If it is late

If you file after 15 days, you must explain why you are late. Unless you show good cause for filing late, your appeal may be dismissed.

While you appeal

Keep certifying (filing your weekly or biweekly claims).

Law: SDCL 61-7-5; ARSD 47:06:05:01, 47:06:05:02

Official source: Source page

Request for Department of Labor and Regulation review (appeal to the Secretary)

Secretary of Labor and Regulation

Deadline: 15 calendar days from the date of the administrative law judge's decision
Counts as filed: on the postmark date
Weekends and holidays: If the last day to appeal is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, your appeal is on time if filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.
How to file: Mail a letter asking for review to the Secretary of Labor and Regulation. The Secretary decides based on the hearing record and may order more evidence to be taken. This step is optional: you may instead appeal the judge's decision straight to circuit court within 30 days.
Where to send it: Secretary of Labor and Regulation, South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, PO Box 4730, Aberdeen, SD 57402-4730
It must include: Your name and mailing address
Your Social Security number (or claimant ID number)
The date of the judge's decision you are appealing
Why you disagree with the decision
Your signature and the date
If it is late: The judge's decision becomes the final decision of the Department unless you appeal within 15 days.
While you appeal: Keep certifying (filing your weekly or biweekly claims).

Law: SDCL 61-7-10, 61-7-12; ARSD 47:06:05:12

Official source: Source page

Appeal to circuit court

Deadline: 30 calendar days from the date of the decision you are appealing (the judge's decision, or the Secretary's decision if you asked for review)
What to know: You can appeal the judge's decision, or the Secretary's decision, to circuit court within 30 days after the date of the decision. You start the appeal by serving a notice of appeal on the other party, on the Department of Labor and Regulation and on the judge who decided the case, and filing the original, with proof of service, with the clerk of courts in the county where the appeal belongs. No bond is required. Circuit court decisions can be appealed to the South Dakota Supreme Court.

Law: SDCL 61-7-14; SDCL 1-26-31

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: Most hearings are by telephone conference call with an administrative law judge. You must call the toll-free number on your Notice of Hearing at the date and time shown. If you want an in-person hearing, ask the judge in writing and explain why; it is usually held at the nearest DLR Job Service office.
Notice before the hearing: 7 days
Documents and witnesses: You get numbered documents with the Notice of Hearing. Mail or fax any other documents to the appeals office at least three days before the hearing. At the hearing, ask the judge to mark your documents as exhibits. Witnesses should have personal knowledge of the facts and be available at the hearing time.
Subpoena: If an important witness will not come or the other side will not provide needed documents, ask the appeals office for a subpoena right away. Say why the witness or documents are needed and give names and addresses. The judge decides.
Interpreter: Call Customer Service at 605-626-2452 or the appeals office at 605-626-2310 to ask for an interpreter. For TTY, call 711.
Representation: You can represent yourself; the judge is trained to hold hearings where people have no representative. You may have a lawyer or other authorized representative at your own cost. If your income is limited, you may get free help from a South Dakota legal services program.
If you miss it: If you do not call in or are late, your appeal will probably be dismissed or decided on the other evidence. To reopen, send a written request within 10 days after the dismissal order or decision explaining why you missed the hearing; DLR may grant it for good cause. To postpone, call the appeals office right away, preferably at least 24 hours before the hearing.

Law: ARSD 47:06:05:03, 47:06:05:03.01; SDCL 61-7-22

Overpayments and waivers

If you were paid benefits you were not entitled to, you must repay them. DLR sends an overpayment determination and a monthly bill. If you are still getting benefits, your payments go toward the debt. If you are at fault, 12% yearly interest starts on the date of the overpayment determination; if you are not at fault, interest starts after six months. For fraud, you also owe a penalty of 50% of the benefits obtained by fraud (100% for each later offense), and four weeks of administrative penalty for each week of fraud.

Respond within: DLR asks you to make a payment within 15 days and set up a reasonable monthly payment to avoid further collection action.
Appeal within: 15 days from the date DLR mailed the overpayment determination
Fraud penalty: 50% added when the overpayment is fraud
Waiver: The state can waive some overpayments.
The standard: DLR may waive repayment if the overpayment was not your fault (not caused by fault, misrepresentation or willful nondisclosure) and you do not have the ability to repay. DLR looks at your family's average gross income for the past 12 months and your liquid assets. Very high medical bills or another financial emergency may also count.
How to ask: If DLR found you not at fault, mail or fax the Request for Financial Waiver of Overpayment to 605-626-2322 within 15 days after the overpayment notice. Say why repayment should be waived. Waiver requests are not accepted by phone or email.
Waiver form: Request for Financial Waiver of Overpayment (DLR RA Form 069)
Income: DLR may waive the overpayment if your family's gross income for the past 12 months is at or below the amount in its Family Income Table for your family size (effective July 1, 2026).
How the state collects: DLR can take the debt out of future benefits, file a lien against your property, use the methods it uses to collect unpaid employer taxes, and, for fraud overpayments, take your federal income tax refund. You can pay by check or money order, online in the RA Benefits Portal, or by card, and DLR can set up a payment plan (605-626-7649).

Law: SDCL 61-6-39, 61-6-41, 61-6-42, 61-6-44; SDCL 61-6-42; ARSD 47:06:04:22

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 605-626-3179. Legal aid and other free help in South Dakota → Official sources →

Appeal an unemployment denial in South Dakota