If you don't agree with the Referee's decision, you may file an appeal with the Board of Review. You may be able to get a free lawyer through the Illinois Department of Employment Security to help you.

You will probably get the Referee’s decision in the mail within a week after your hearing. You must file a written appeal within 30 days of the mailing date listed on the Referee's decision. Make sure you do not miss this important piece of mail. You only have 30 days to appeal or you will not be able to have any further appeals.

An appeal can be done in a letter or with IDES's Notice of Appeal/Board of Review form. Use our Unemployment benefits appeal after a hearing program to create a personalized Notice of Appeal form and a letter.

In your appeal, you should explain why you think the decision was wrong based only on the evidence from the hearing. Be as organized and specific as possible. Include your name and address, your social security number, and the docket number on the decision.

The Board of Review will not hold a new hearing or hear from witnesses. In general, the Board of Review will only consider the testimony that was given in front of the referee and the evidence that the referee had at the hearing. However, IDES’s rules say that you can ask the Board to consider new evidence if you did not submit the evidence to the referee for reasons that were not your fault and were beyond your control. For example, if you did everything you could to get the evidence before the hearing but you did not get the evidence until after the hearing, that might be a reason the Board of Review would accept the new evidence.

In deciding what you want to write in your appeal letter, you should carefully read the Referee's decision. Look at why the Referee found in favor of your employer. You should discuss each point you disagree with. Make sure your letter does not have spelling mistakes, is properly formatted, and appears professional. Try to have your letter proofread by another person. They may see something that needs to be corrected. You should show this other person the Referee's decision and ask them if they have any other ideas of things to include in your letter.

When you file your appeal to the Board of Review, you have the right to ask for a copy of the transcript from the referee hearing to be prepared and mailed to you. A transcript means that staff at IDES listen to the recording from your hearing and write out word for word what was said. There will be a small fee for the transcript. You also have the right to ask for the full record of the documents that the referee had when they made the decision; IDES may send that to you or they may tell you that you can come to the office of the Board in Chicago to look at it. 

Here is why you might want to ask for the transcript. You might not be able to remember exactly what you said to the referee, or exactly how one of the other witnesses testified. Or, you might remember that the referee stopped testimony on something you thought was important, but you might not be sure what the referee said. The exact words of the testimony or exactly what the referee said could be very important for your appeal. To make your best argument that the referee made a mistake in deciding your case, you may want to point out those exact words. 

Once you receive the transcript, you have 10 days from the date it was mailed to you to file your written argument with the Board of Review. If you need more time, you can request it in writing and explain why you need more time. The Board may give you an additional 7 to 30 days to file your written argument. Be sure to send a copy of your written argument to your employer. Certify in writing to the Board of Review that you sent it to the employer (“I certify that I served [name of employer] with a copy of this written argument on [date you are sending it to the employer and Board]”)  

You still need to search for work and certify every two weeks with IDES. If you do not do this, even if you win your case you will not get money for the weeks you did not certify.