I am an attorney, and every so often, a new potential client will email me, and will do so using their employment email address.  When this happens, often the person’s email will contain negative information about his or her employer, or other information the person would not want the employer’s management to read.

Please know this: most employers can, and will, access employees’ emails sent from their work email accounts. Even if your employer has “never” done this so far, and you think they never will, please know if you later file a legal dispute (or the employer thinks you may), the employer will likely become motivated to comb through your emails at that point.

You can avoid risks by simply doing this: if you email an attorney for your own personal purposes, use your personal (non-work) email account.

If you are a Wisconsin worker who lost your initial determination for unemployment benefits, and you want to contest/appeal that decision, make sure you file your appeal on time, and before the deadline stated on the determination document.

An appeal can be submitted online at the unemployment division’s website (click here), or via a letter.  When submitting the appeal, you should be very careful to closely follow the instructions on the determination form, and– I’ll emphasize it again– to submit the appeal before the deadline. 

The initial determination form you received will state the deadline, and the instructions for filing an appeal via internet or letter.

If an appeal is filed late, it is very difficult to get unemployment benefits. Wisconsin’s unemployment division does not accept most excuses for a late appeal, and usually will not accept late appeals.

Don’t procrastinate. File the appeal the same day you received the determination if possible. It does not take long, and most of the information in the appeal is very straight-forward. I have another post here about things to consider when submitting an appeal.